The works of Sir Thomas Browne

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THE UNIVERSITY
OE CALIFORNIA

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THE WORKS

or

SIE THOMAS BEOAVNE.

EDITED BY

SIMON WILKIN, F.L.S.

VOLUME IL

COXTAIKIKG

THE THREE LAST BOOKS OF VULGAR ERRORS,
RELIGIO MEDICI, AND THE GARDEN OF CYRUS.

LONDON: GEOEGE BELL AND SONS, YOEK STREET,
COVENT GARDEN.

1888.

7X)ND0?r :

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
BTAMFOKD STKEEI ASD CHARISU CWJSS.

LIBRARY
po UmVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA'

-;^ Ijp ^ SANTA BARliAKA

A\

I 988 CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA, Books V. to VII.

The Fifth Book ) the particular part continued. Of many tilings questionabU a$
they are commonly described in pictures. Of many popular customs, Sfc.

Chap. 1 . Of the picture of the pelican Pagt 1

Chap. 2. Of the picture of dolphins .. .. .. .. .. ,. ., 4

Chap. 3. Of the picture of a (grasshopper 6

Chap. 4. Of the picture of the serpent tempting Eve .. .. .. .. 9

Chap. 5. Of the picture of Atlani and Eve with navels .. .. .. ..14

Chap. 6. Of the pictures of the Jews and Eastern nations, at their feasts,

especially our Saviour at the Passover .. .. .. .. ..17

Chap. 7. Of the picture of our Saniour with long hair . . . . . . . . 26

Chap. 8. Of the picture of Abraham sacrificmg- Isaac .. ., .. ..28

Chap. 9. Of the picture of Moses with horns .. .. .. .. ..29

Chap. 10. Of the scutcheons of the twelve tribes of Israel 32

Chap. 11. Of the pictures of the sibyls 38

Chap. 12. Of the picture describing the death of Cleopatra 39

Chap. 13. Of the pictures of the nhie worthies .. .. .. .. ..42

Chap. 14. Of the picture of Jephthah sacrificing his daughter .. .. ..47

Chap. 15. Of the picture of John the Baptist in a camel's skin .. .. ..50

Chap. 16. Of the picture of St. Christopher .. .. .. .. .. ..52

Chap. 17. Of the picture of St. George .. .. .. .. .. ..54

Chap. 18. Of the picture of St. Jerome .. .. .. .. .. .,56

Chap. 19. Of the pictures of mermaids, unicorns, and some others .. .. 59

Chap. 20. Of the hieroglyphical pictures of the Egyptians 65

Chap. 21. Of the picture of Haman hanged 69

Chap. 22. Of the picture of God the Father; of the sun, moon, and winds,

with others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Chap. 23. Compendiously of many popular customs, opinions, &c. : viz. of an
hare crossing the high-way ; of the ominous appearing of owls and
ravens ; of the fsilling of salt ; of breaking the egg-shell ; of the
true lovers' knot ; of the cheek bumuig or ear tingling ; of speaking
under the rose ; of smoke follovnjig the fair ; of sitting cross-
legged ; of hair upon moles ; of the set time of paring of nails ; oi
lions' heads upon spouts and cisterns; of the saying, ungirt,
unblest ; of the sun dancing on Easter-day ; of the siUy-how ; of
being drunk once a month ; of the appearing of the devil with a

cloven hoof. . . . . . . . . . . • • 79

Chap. 24. Of popular customs, opinions, &c.; of the prediction of the year en-
suing from the insects in oak apples ; that children would naturally
speak Hebrew ; of refraining to kill swallows ; of lights burning dim
at the apparition of spirits ; of the wearing of coral ; of Moses' rod
in the discovery of mines ; of discovering doubtful matters by book
or staff 91

The Sixth Book ; the particular part continued. Of popular and received tenets,
cosmographical, geographical, and historical.

Chap. 1. Concerning the beginning of the world, that the time thereof is not

precisely known, as commonly it is presumed . . . . . . 103

Chap. 2. Of men's enquiries in what season or point of the Zodiack it began,
that, as they are generally made, they are in vain, and as
particularly, uncertaui .. .. .. .. .. .. .. II9

Chap. 3. Of the divisions of the seasons and four quarters of the jear,
according unto astronomers and physicians ; that the conrnon
compute of the ancients, and which is stiU retained by some, is r ery
qncstionable 123

IV CONTEXTS,

Chap. i. Of some computation of days, and deductions of one part of tlie year

unto another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 1 27

Chap. 5. A digression of the wisdom of God in the site and motion of the sun 130
Chap. 6. Conceimng the vulgar opinion, that the earth was slenderly peopled

before the flood . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . 138

Chap. 7. Of east and west .. .. .. .. .. .. ., .. 153

Chap. 8. Of the river Nilus 163

Chap. 9- Of the Red Sea 176

Chap. 10. Of the blackness of negroes .. .. .. 180

Chap. 11. Of the same 192

Chap. 12. A digression concerning blackness 197

Chap. 13. Of gypsies 204

Chap. 14. Of some others 207

The Seventh Book ; the partimdnr part concluded. Of popular and received

tenets, chiefly historical and some deduced from the Holy Scriptures,
Chap. 1. That the forbidden fruit was an apple .. .. .. .. .. 210

Chap. 2. That a man hath one rib less than a woman .. .. .. .. 214

Chap. 3. Of Methuselah 216

Chap. 4. That there was no rainbow before the flood 219

Chap. 5. Of Shem, Ham, and Japheth 222

Chap. 6. Th&t the tower of Babel was erected against a second deluge . . 225
Chap. 7. Of the mandrakes of Leah .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 227

Chap. 8. Of the tlu-ee kings of CoUein 232

Chap. 9. Of the food of John Baptist, locusts and wild honey . . . . 234

Chap. 10. Tliat Jolm the Evangelist should not die . . 23.5

Chap. 1 1 . Of some others more briefly . . .. .. .. .. .. ..241

Chap. 12. Of the cessation of oracles .. 243

Chap. n. Of the death of Aristotle 246

Chap. 14. Of the wish of Philoxenus to have the neck of a crane .. . . 252

Chap. 15. Of thelake Asphaltites 255

Chap. 16. Of divers other relations: viz. of the woman that conceived in a
bath ; of Crassus that never laughed but once ; that oiu: Saviour
never laughed ; of Sergius the Second, or Bocca di Porco ; that
Tamerlane was a Scythian shepherd . . .... . . . . 259

Chap. 17. Of some others : viz. of the poverty of Belisarius ; of fluctus decu-
manus, or the tenth wave; of Parisatis that poisoned Statira by
one side of a knife ; of the woman fed with poison, that should
have poisoned Alexander ; of the wandering Jew ; of pope Joan ;
of friar Bacon's brazen head that spoke ; of Epicurus . . . . 267

Chap. 18. More briefly of some others : viz. that the army of Xerxes drank
whole rivers dry ; that Hannibal eat throvigh the Alps viith vinegar ;
of Archimedes his burning the ships of MarceUus ; of the Fabii
that were all slain ; of the death of ^scliylus ; of the cities of
Tarsus and Anchiale built in one day ; of the great ship Syracusia
or Alexandria ; of the Spartan boys .. .. .. ., .. 276

Chap, 19. Of some relations whose truth we fear 284

EELIGIO MEDICI.

Editor's pi eface 293

The annotator to the leader .. 308

Correspondence between Dr. Browne and Sir Kenelm Digby .311

To the reader .. .. ., .. .. 315

Obser\ations on Religio Medici . . .. , .. 453

THE GAEDEN OF CYRUS.

Editor's preface 491

The epistle dedicatory .. 493

The stationer to the reader 5(34

PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA.

THE FIFTH BOOK:

THE PARTICULAR PART CONTINUED.

OF MANY THINGS QUESTIONABLE AS THEY ARE COMMONLY
DESCEIBED IN PICTUEES ; OF MANY POPULAE CUSTOMS, ETC.

CHAPTER I.

Of the Picture of the Pelicom.

And first, in every place we meet with the picture of the
pelican, opening her breast ^ith her bill, and feeding her
young ones with the blood distilled from her. Thus is it set
forth not only in common signs, but in the crest and
scutcheon of many noble families ; hath been asserted by
many holy writers, and was an hieroglyphick of piety and
pity among the Egyptians ; on which consideration they
spared them at their tables. ^

' And first, <tc.] These singular birds are said to fish in companies ;
they form a circle on the water, and having by the flapping of their huge
wings, driven the terrified fish towards the centre, they suddenly dive
all at once as by consent, and soon fill their immense pouches with
their prey. In order subsequently to disgorge the contents, in feeding
their young, they have only to press the pouch on their breast. This
operation may very probably have given rise to the fable, that the
pelican opens her breast to nourish her young.

As to its hieroglyphical import, Horapollo says that it was used
among the Egyptians as an emblem of folly ; on account of the little
care it takes to deposit its eggs in a safe place. He relates that it buries
them in a hole ; that the natives, observing the place, cover it with dry
cow's dung, to which they sot fire. The old birds immediately endea-
vouring to extinguish the fire with their wings, get them burnt, and so
are easily caught. — Hovaf. Hierogl. cura Pauw, ito. Traj. ad Rh. 1727,
pp. 67, 68.

VOL. II. B

2 OP THE PICTUEE OF THE PELICAN. [BOOK V

Notwithstanding, upon enquiry we find no mention hereof
in ancient zoographers, and such as have particularly dis-
coursed upon animals, as Aristotle, -lEHan, PMny, Solinus,
and many more ; who seldom forget proprieties of such a
nature, and have been very punctual in less considerable
records. Some ground hereof I confess we may allow, nor
need we deny a remarkable affection in pehcans toward their
young ; for ^lian, discoursing of storks, and their affection
toward their brood, whom they instruct to fly, and unto
whom they redeliver up the provision of their beUies, con-
cludeth at last, that herons and pelicans do the like.

As for the testimonies of ancient fathers, and ecclesiastical
wi'iters, we may more safely conceive therein some emble-
matical, than any real story : so doth Eucherius confess it
to be the emblem of Christ. And we are unwilling literally
to receive that account of Jerom, that perceiving her young
ones destroyed by serpents, she openeth her side with her
bill, by the blood whereof they revive and return unto life
again. By which relation they might indeed illustrate the
destruction of man by the old serpent, and his restorement
by the blood of Christ : and in this sense we shall not dis-
pute the like relations of Austin, Isidore, Albertus, and
many more ; and under an emblematical intention, we accept
it in coat-armour.

As for the hieroglyphick of the Egyptians, they erected
the same upon another consideration, which was parental
aftection ; manifested in the protection of her young ones,
when her nest was set on fixe. For as for letting out her
blood, it was not the assertion of the Egyptians, but seems
translated unto the pelican from the vulture, as Pierius hath
plainly delivered. Sed qiibd pelicanum {iit etiam aliis ple-
7nsque 2^ersuasiim est) rostro pectus dissecantem pingunt, ita
ut suo sanguine filios alat, ah jSSgyptiorum historia valde
alienuvi est, illi enim vulturem tantlim id facere tradiderunt.

And lastly, as concerning the picture, if natm-ally examined,
and not hieroglyphically conceived, it eontaineth many im-
proprieties, disagreeing almost in all things from the true
aud proper description. For, whereas it is commonly set
forth green or yellow, in its proper colo\ir it is inclining to
white, excepting the extremities or tops of the wing feathers,
irhich are brown. It is described in the bigness of a hen,

CHAP. I.] OF THE PICTUEE OF THE PELICAN. 8

whereas it approacheth and sometimes exeeedeth the magni-
tude of a swan.2 It is commonly painted with a short bill ;
whereas that of tlie pelican^ attaineth sometimes the length
of two spans. The bill is made acute or pointed at the
end, whereas it is flat and broad,'* though somewhat inverted
at the extreme. It is described like Jtssipedes, or birds
which have their feet or claws divided : whereas it is palmi-
pedous, or fin-footed, like swans and geese, according to the
method of nature in latirostrous or flat-billed birds, which
being generally swimmers, the organ is wisely contrived unto
the action, and they are framed with fins or oars upon their
feet, and therefore they neither light, nor build on trees, if
we except cormorants, who make their nests like herons.
Lastly, there is one part omitted more remarkable than any
other ; that is, the chowle or crop adhering unto the lower
side of the bill, and so descending by the throat ; a bag or
sachel very observable, and of a capacity almost beyond
credit ; which, notwithstanding, this animal could not want ;
for therein it receiveth oysters, cockles, scollops, and other
testaceous animals, which being not able to break, it retains
them imtil they open, and vomiting them up, takes out the
meat contained. This is that part preserved for a rarity,
and wherein (as Sanctius delivers) in one dissected, a negro
child was found.

A possibility there may be of opening and bleeding their
breast, for this may be done by the uncous and pointed
extremity of their bill ; and some probability also that they
sometimes do it for their own relief, though not for their

* whereas it approachetJi, tfcc] This bird, says Buffon, would be the
largest of watei'-birds, were not the body of the albatross more thick,
and the legs of the flamingo so much longer. It is sometimes six feet
long from point of bill to end of tail, and twelve feet from wing-tip to
wing-tip.

^ that of the pelican.'] This description of the authors agrees {per
omnia) with that live pelhcan, which was to bee seen in King-street,
Westminster, 1647, from whence (doubtles) the author maketh this re-
lation i$ iivroipiif. — Wr.

* flat and lyroad.'] From hence itt is that many ancients call this bird
the shoveller : and the Greeks derive TreXeKdv from ntXtK^v, to wound
as with an axe, which suites with the shape of his beake in length and
breadthe like a rooting axe, per omnia. — Wr.

But the term shoveller is now applied to a species of duck ; Anas
tlypeata.

2b

4 OF THE PICTURE OF DOLPHTKS. [bOOK V.

young ones ; that is, by nibbling and biting themselves on
the itching part of their breast, upon fulness or acrimony
of blood. And the same may be better made out, if (as
some relate) their feathers on that part are sometimes
observed to be red and tinctured with blood.^

CHAPTER II.

Of the. Picture of Dolphins.

That dolphins are crooked, is not only affirmed by the
hand of the painter, but commonly conceived their natural
and proper figure, which is not only the opinion of our times,
but seems the belief of elder times before us. For, beside
the expressions of Ovid and Pliny, the portraits in some
ancient coins are framed in this figure, as will appear in
some thereof in Gesner, others in Groltsius, and Lsevinus
Hulsius in his description of coins from Julius Csesar unto
Rodolphus the second.

Notwithstanding, to speak strictly, in their natural figure
they are straight, nor have their spine convexed, or more
considerably embowed, than sharks, porpoises,^ whales, and

^ A possibility, etc.] This paragraph was first added in 6th edition.

^ por2Mises.'\ Reade porkpisces. The porkpisce (that is the dolphin
hatli his name from the hog hee resembles in convexity and curvitye of
his backe, from the head to the tayle : nor is hee otherwise cnrbe, then
as a hog is : except that before a stomie, hee tumbles just as a hog runs.
That which I once saw, cutt up in Fish-street, was of this forme and
above five foote longe : his skin not skaly, but smoothe and black, like
bacon in the chimney ; and his bowels in all points like a hog : and yf
instead of his four fins you imagine four feete, hee would represent a
black hcg (as it were) sweal'd aUve. — Wr.

This creature, so graphically described by the dean, is probably the
common dolphin, — Delphinus Delphis ; but the porpoise is a difierent
animal, Delphis pihoccena, now constituted a distinct genus. Ray, how-
ever, says that the porpoise is the dolphin of the ancients. The follow-
ing passage from his PhilosopMcal Letters, p. 46, corroborates the dean's
proposed etymology. It occurs in a letter to Dr. Martin Lister,
May 7, 1669. " Totum corpus copiosa etdensa pinguedine (piscatores
blubber vocant), duorum plus minus digitorum crassitie undique intege-
batur, immediate sub cute, et supra carnem musculosam sita, ut in
porcis ; ob quam rationem, et quod porcorum grunnitum quadantimus
imitetur, porpcsse, — i. e. porcum piscem, dictum eum existimo.'*

CHAP. II.] OF THE PICTUEE OF DOLPHINS. 5

other cetaceous animals, as Scaliger plainly affirmeth ; Cor-
pus hahet non magls curvum quam reliqui pisces. As ocular
enquiry informeth ; and as, unto such as liave not had the
opportunity to behold them, their proper portraits will dis-
cover iu llondeletius, Gresner, and • Aldrovandus. And as
indeed is deducible from pictures themselves ; for though
they be drawn repandous, or convexedly crooked in one piece,
yet the dolphin that carrieth Arion'' is concavously inverted,
and hath its spine depressed in another. And answerably
hereunto may we behold them differently bowed in medals,
and the dolpliins of Tarus and Fidius do make another
flexure from that of Commodus and Agrippa.^

And therefore what is delivered of their incurvity, must
either be taken emphatically, that is, not really, but in
appearance ; which happeneth when they leap above water
and suddenly shoot down again : which is a fallacy in vision,
wliereby straight bodies in a sudden motion protruded
obliquely downward appear to the eye crooked ; and this is
the construction of Bellonius : or, if it be taken really, it
must not universally and perpetually ; that is, not when they
swim and remain in their proper figures, but only when they
.eap, or impetuously whirl their bodies any way ; and this is
the opinion of Gesnerus. Or lastly, it may be taken neither
really nor emphatically, but only emblematically ; for being
the hieroglyphick of celerity,^ and svdfter than other animals,

' yet the dolphin that carrieth Arion.] " The Persian authors of high
antiquity say, that the delfin will take on his back persons in danger of
being drowned, from whence comes the fable of Arion. The word is
derived from n'^n stillare, Jluere, delf; because tlie dolphin was con-
sidered as the king of the sea, and Neptune a monarch represented
under the image of this fish. Dolphins were the symbols of maritime
towns and cities. See Spanheim, 4to. 141, ed. 1671." — Dr. S. Weston's
Specimen of the Conformity of the European with the Oriental Languages,
d:c. 8vo. 1803, pp. 75, 76. See also Alciati Emhlem. xc.

® Andanstverably, <i;c.] First added in 3rd edition.

^ the hiero'jlyphick of celerity.'] Sylvanus Morgan in his Sphere of
Gentry (fol. 1661), p. 69, says that the dolphin is the hieroglyphick of
society ! " there being no fish else that loves the company of men."

" Some authors, more especially the ancients, have asserted that
dolphins have a lively and natural affection towards the human species,
with which they are easily led to familiarize. They have recounted
many marvellous stories on this subject. AU that is known with cer-
tainty is, that when they perceive a ship at sea, they rush in a crowd

6 OF THE PICTUEE OF A GEASSHOPPEE. [BOOK V.

men best expressed their veloc7'!y by iucurvity, and under
some figure of a bow ; and in this sense probably do heralds
also receive it, when, from a dolphin extended, they dis-
tinguish a dolphin embowed.

And thus also must that picture be taken of a dolphin
clasping an anchor;^ that is, not really, as is by most con-
ceived out of aftection unto man, conveying the anchor unto
the ground ; but emblematically, according as Pierius hath
expressed it, the swiftest animal conjoined with that heavy
body, implying that common moral, festina lente : and that
celerity should always be contempered with cimctation.

CHAPTEE III.

Of the Picture of a Grasshopper.

Theee is also among us a common description and picture
of a grasshopper, as may be observed in the pictures of
emblematists, in the coats of several families, and as the
word cicada is usually translated in dictionaries. Wherein
to speak strictly, if by this word grasshopper, we imderstand
that animal which is implied by tettiI, with the Greeks, and
by cicada with the Latins, we may with safety affirm the
picture is widely mistaken, and that for aught enquiry can
inform, there is no such insect in England.^ Which how

before it, surround it, and express their confidence by rapid, varied, and
repeated evolutions, sometimes bounding, leaping, and manoeuvering in
all manner of ways ; sometimes performing complicated circumvolutions,
and exhibiting a degree of grace, agility, dexterity, and strength, •which
is perfectly astonishing. Perhaps however they foUow the track of
vessels with no other view than the hopes of preying on something that
may fall from them." — Cuvier, by Griffith.

' a dolphin clasping an anchor.] The device of the family of Manutins,
celebrated as learned prJrters at Venice and Rome. See Alciati Emr
hlem. cxliv.

^ no such insect in England.'] It is perfectly true that, till recently,
no species of the true Linnasan Cicadae {Tdtigonia, Fab.) had been dis-
covered in Great Britain. About twenty years since, I had the plea-
sure of adding this classical and most interesting genus to the British
Fauna. Having, about that time, engaged Mr. Daniel Bydder (a
weaver in Spitalfields, and a very enthusiastic entomologist) to collect
for me in the New Forest, Hampshire, I received from him thence

CUAP. III.] OF THE PICTUUE OF A GEASSHOPPER. 7

paradoxical soever, upon a strict enquiry, will prove unde-
niable truth.

For first, that animal which the French term sauterelle,
we a grasshopper, and which under this name is commonly
described by us, is named "A/cpic by the Greeks, by the Latins
locusta, and by ourselves in proper speech a locust ; as in
the diet of John Baptist, and in our translation, " the locusts
have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands."*
Again, between the cicada and that we call a grasshopper
the differences are very many, as may be observed in them-
selves, or their descriptions in Matthiolus, Aldrovaudus,
and Muffetus. For first, they are differently cucuUated or
eapuched upon the head and back, and in the cicadae the
eyes are more prominent : the locusts have antennae or long
horns before, with a long falcation or forcipated tail behind :
and being ordained for saltation, their hinder legs do iar
exceed the other. The locust or our grasshopper hath teeth,
the cicada none at all ; nor any mouth, according unto
Aristotle.^ The cicada is most upon trees ; and lastly, the

* Proverbs xxx.

many valuable insects from time to time, and at length, to my surprise
and great satisfaction, a pair of cicada ' Mr. John Curtis (since
deservedly well known as the author of Brithh Entomology) was then
residing with me as draughtsman ; and no doubt our united examina-
tions were diligently bestowed to find the little stranger among the
described species of the continent ; but in vain. I quite forget whether
we bestowed a MS. name ; probably not ; as scarcely hoping that the
first species discovered to be indigenous, would also prove to be pecu-
liar to our country, and be distinguished by the national appellation of
Cicada anglica. Yet so it has proved: Mr.' Samouelle, I beUeve, first
gave it that name ; and Mr. Curtis has given an exquisite figure, and
full description of it, in the 9th vol. of his Britusli Entomology, No. 392.
I cannot however speak in so high terms of his account of its original
discovery. I cannot understand why he has thus drily noticed it :
" C. Anglica was first discovered in the New Forest about twenty years
ago." 1 should have supposed that it might have given him some plea-
sure to attach to his narrative the name of an old friend, from whom he
had received early and valuable assistance, and to whom he was indebted
for his acquaintance with the art he has so long and so successfully pur-
sued. At all events he ought to have recorded the name of the poor
man by whose industry and perseverance the discovery was effected.

^ The locust, cfcc] Both the locustce and cicada are furnished with
teeth — if by that term we are to understand mandibulce and maxillce.
But in cicadcB they are not so obvious ; being enclosed in the labium.
This conformation probably led Aristotle to say they had no mouth.

8 OF THE PICTUEE OF A GEASSHOPPEE. [bOOK V.

frittinnitiis, or proper note thereof, is far more shrill than
that of the locust, and its life so short in summer, that for
provision it needs not have recourse imto the providence of
the pismire in winter.

And therefor 3 where the cicada must be understood, the
pictures of heralds and emblematists are not exact, nor is it
safe to adhere imto the interpretation of dictionaries, and
we must with candour make out oiir own translations ; for
in the plague of Egypt, Exodus x., the word " Ak^lq is trans-
lated a locust, but in the same sense and subject. Wisdom
xvi., it is translated a grasshopper ; " for them the bitings of
grasshoppers and flies kdled;" whereas we have declared
before the cicada hath no teeth, but is conceived to Uve upon
dew ; and the possibility of its subsistence is disputed by
Licetus. Hereof I perceive Muffetus hath taken notice,
dissenting from Langius and Lycosthenes, whUe they
deliver the cicadce destroyed the fruits in Germany, where
that insect is not found, and therefore concludeth, Tarn ipsos
quam alios deceptos fuisse autumo, dum locustas cicadas esse
vulgari errore crederent.

And hereby there may be some mistake in the due dispen-
sation of medicines desumed from this animal, particularly of
diatettigon, commended by ^Etius, in the affections of the
kidneys. It must be likewise understood with some restric-
tion what hath been affirmed by Isidore, and yet delivered
by many, that cicades are bred out of cuckoo-spittle or wood-
sear, that is, that spumous frothy dew or exudation, or both,
found upon plants, especially about the jouits of lavender
and rosemary, observable with us about the latter end of
May. Eor here the true cicada is not bred ; but certain it
is, that out of this, some kind of locust doth proceed, for
herein may be discovered a little insect of a festucine or pale
green, resembling ia aU parts a locust, or what we call a
grasshopper.'*

■* cicades are hred, <fcc.] Here is another error. The froth spoken
of is always found to contain the larva of a little skipping insect, fre-
quently mis-called a cicada, but properly cercopis ; allied in form to
cicada, and of the same order, viz., homoptera, but very distinct in
generic character, and especially without the power of sound. It baa
uo great resemblan' .-e to locintce, which belong to a distinct order, viz.,
OTlJioptcra.

CHAP, n ] THE SEIU'KNT TEMPTING EVE. 9

Lastly, the word itself is improper, and the term grass-
hopper not appliable unto the cicada ; for therein the organs
of motion are not contrived for saltation, nor have the hinder
legs of such extension, as is observable in salient animals,
and such as move by leaping. AVhereto the locust is very
well conformed, for therein the legs behind are longer than
all the body, and make at the second joint acute angles, at
a considerable advancement above their backs.

The mistake therefore with us might have its original
from a defect in our language, for having not the insect Anth
us, we have not fallen upon its proper name, and so make
use of a term common unto it and the locust ; whereas other
countries have proper expressions for it. So the Italian
calls it cicada, the Spaniard cigarra, and the French cigale ;
all which appellations conform unto the original, and properly
express this animal. Whereas our word is borrowed from
the Saxon gaersthoop, which our forefathers, who never
beheld the cicada, used for that insect which we yet call a
grasshopper.^

CHAPTER IV.

Of the Picture of tlie Serpent tempting Eve.

In the picture of paradise, and delusion of our first parents,
the serpent is often described with human visage,^ not unlike
unto Cadmus or his wife in the act of their metamorphosis.
Which is not a mere pictorial contrivance or invention of the
picturer, but an ancient tradition and conceived reality, as
it stands delivered by Beda and authors of some antiquity,''

* Whereas our word, <tc.] This sentence was first added in 6th
edition .

® visage."] See Munster's Hebrew Bible, where in the letter which
begins the first ^ the serpent is made with a "Virgin's face. — Wr.

In Munster's Hebrew and Latin Bible (Basil, 1535, ex Off. Bebeliana),
at the commencement of the Psalms, is the initial letter B, which is a
wood-cut of Adam, Eve, and the sei-pent between them, with the face
of a virgin.

^ antiquity.'] See vol. i. p. 57, where he quotes Basil saytng, that
the serpent went upright and spake. 'Tis probable (and thwarteth noe
truth) that the sei-pent spake to Eve. Does not the text expressly saye
soe ? The devil had as mucli power then as now, and yf now he can
take upon him the forme of an angel of light, why not then the face of a
humane creature as well as the voice of man ? — Wr.

10 THE SEEPENT TEMPTIKG EYE, [bOOK V.

that is, tliat Satan appeared not unto Eve in the naked form
of a serpent, but with a virgin's head, that thereby he might
become more acceptable, and his temptation find the easier
entertainment. AVhich nevertheless is a conceit not to be
admitted, and the plain and received figure is with better
reason embraced.

For first, as Pierius observeth from Barcephas, the assump-
tion of human shape had proved a disadvantage unto Satan,
afibrding not only a suspicious amazement in Eve,^ before
the fact, in beholding a third humanity beside herself and
Adam, but leaving some excuse unto the woman, which after-
ward the man took up with lesser reason, that is, to have
been deceived by another like herself.

Again, there is no inconvenience in the shape assumed, or
any considerable impediment that it might disturb that per-
formance in the common form of a serpent. For whereas it
is conceived the woman must needs be afraid thereof, and
rather fly than approach it, it was not agreeable unto the
condition of paradise and state of innocency therein ; if in
that place, as most determine, no creature was hurtful or
terrible unto man, and those destructive effects they now dis-
cover succeeded the curse, and came in with thorns and
briars ; and therefore Eugubinus (who aflfirmeth this serpent
was a basilisk) incurreth no absurdity, nor need we infer
that Eve should be destroyed immediately upon that vision.
For noxious animals could offend them no more in the
garden than Noah in the ark ; as they peaceably received
their names, so they friendly possessed their natures, and
were their conditions destructive unto each other, they were
not so unto man, whose constitutions then were antidotes,
and needed not fear poisons ; and if (as most conceive) there

^ Eve.^ Eve might easier entertaine a suspiuious amazement to heare
a serpent speake in a humane voyce, than to heare a humane voyce in a
humane shape ; nor was itt more wonder for Sathan to assume one than
both. It 8uited better with his crafte to deliver his wile by a face suit-
able to the voice of man, and since we believe the one, we may without
error beUeve the other. But itt is safest to believe what we findo
recorded of the human voj'ce, and leave the other to Him who thought
not fit to reveale any more. Wee see the fathers differ in opinion,
and there is enough on either side to refute the scorne of Julian, who
payd deare inoughe for his atheistical, or rather anti-theisticall bias-
phemye. — Wr.

CHAP. IV.] THE SERPENT TEMPTING EYE. 11

were but two created of every kind, they could not at that
time destroy either man or themselves, for this had frustrated
the command of multiplication, destroyed a species, and
imperfected the creation ; and therefore also if Cain were
the first man born, with him entered, not only the act, but
the first power of murder, for before that time neither could
the serpent nor Adam destroy Eve, nor Adam and Eve each
other, for that had overthrown the intention of the world,
and put its creator to act the sixth day over again.

Moreover, whereas in regard of speech, and vocal con-
ference with Eve, it may be thought he would rather assume
an human shape and organs, than the improper form of a
serpent, it implies no material impediment. Not need we
to wonder how he contrived a voice out of the mouth of
a serpent, who hath done the like out of the belly of a
Pythonissa, and the trunk of an oak, as he did for many
years at Dodona.

Lastly, whereas it might be conceived^ that an human

^ conceired.] Itt might wel bee conceived (and soe it seemes itt was)
oy St. Basil, that a virgin's head (hee does not saye a humane shape)
was fittest for this intention of speakinge, itt being most probable Eve
would be more amazed to heure such a creature as a serpent speake with
a humane voyce, then to heare a human voyce passe through the mouth
of a virgin face. To hear a voice without a head must needs (as the
Bubtile serpent knew full well) have started in Eve either the suppo-
sition of a causeles miracle, or the suspition of an imposture ; there-
fore to cut off those scruples, which might have prevented and frustrated
his ayme, 'tis most probable the subtile tempter assumed the face as well
as the voice of a virgin to conveigh that temptation which he supposed
Eve would greedily entertain.

Julius Scaliger, that magazin of all various learninge, in his 183rd
exercitation and 4th section, speaking of certaine strange kinds of ser-
pents, reports that in Malabar, there are serpents 8 foote long, of a
horrible aspect, but harmless unless they bee provoked. These he cals
boy-lovers (psederotas) for that they will for manye houres together stand
bolt upright gazing on the boyes at their sportes, never offring to hurte
any of them.

These, saithe he, while they glide on the ground are like other ser-
pents or eeles (like conger eeles), but raising themselves upright they
spread themselves into such a corpulent breadthe, that had they feet
they would seeme to be men, and therefore he cals them by a coigned
name, tyxiKavBpdnrovQ, eele-like men, though hee might more properly
call them o(piavdpwiTovQ, dragon-like men. Now though we can yeeld
noe greater beleefe to this story then the Portuguez that traffique
thither deserve, yet bycause the world owes many excellent discoveryea

12 THE SEHPEITT TEMPTING EVE. [bOOK V.

shape was fitter for this enterprise, it being more than pro-
bable she ■would be amazed to hear a serpent speak ; some

of hidden truths to his indefatigable diligence and learned labors, sel-
dome t.axed for fabulous assertions, why may we not think that itt was
this kinde of serpent, whose shape Satan assumed when he spake to
Eve.* For since Moses telsus that God permitted the serpent to deceive
our grandmother by faigning the voyce of man, wee may reasonably
acquit St. Basil of error, or offring violence to trueth, that hee tooke
it as granted by a paritye of like reason, that the serpent would rather
assume such a face and appearance of humane forijie as might sute with
a humane voyce, at least would frame a humane visage as well as a
human tounge, which is but a parte in the head of man, for which the
head (rather then for any other sense) seemes to have been made by
God, that the spirits of men (which till they discover themselves by
language cannot bee understood) might by the benefit of this admirable
instrument, have mutual commerce and intelligence, and conveighe
their inwarde conceptions each to other. Surely yf every such a strange
serpent as this which Scaliger describes were scene in the world, we must
perforce grant that they are some of that kinde which God at first created
8oe, and that Satan subtily choose to enter into that kinde which before
the curse naturally went upright (a.* they say the basiliske now does) and
could soe easily, soe nearly represent the appearance and show of man
not only in gate but in voyce as the Scripture speakes. That they have
no feete makes soe much the more for the conjecture, and that however
itt seemes this kinde of seri)ent (which Satan used as an instrument of
his fraud) did originally goe upwright, and can yet frame himselfe into
that posture, yet by God's just doome is now forced to creep on hia
belly in the duste ; where though they strike at our heele, they are
liable to have their heade bruised and trampled on by the foote of
man. — Wr.

In one of the illustrations to Caedmon's Paraphrase, mentioned
p. 14, I find the serpent standing "bolt upright, " receiving his sen-
tence, and another figure of him lying on the ground, do indicate big
condemnation to subsequent repiiUty. Some critics have complained
of the painters for representing him without feet in his interview with
Eve, whereas, say they, his creeping on his belly was inflicted on him
as a punishment. Had those critics been acquainted with Professor
Mayer's assertion, that rudimental feet are found in almost all the ser-
pent tribe, tliey would doubtless have regarded it as a confirmation of
their opinion, and would have contended that these imperfect and
unserviceable rudiments of feet were all the traces left to them of those
locomotive powers which this, as well as other vertebrated animals, had
originally enjoyed.

Dr. Adam Clarke gives a very long and elaborate article on the temp-
tation of Eve. His opinion is that the tempter was an ape ; he builda

* See what I noted long since on Gen. iii. 14, to this purpose in th«
Geneva Bible.

CHAP. IV.] THE SEttPENT TEMPTING EVE. 13

conceive she might not yet be certain that only man was
privileged with speecli, and being in the novity of" the crea-
tion, and inexpei-iencc of all things, might not be affrighted
to hear a serpent speak. Besides, she might be ignorant ol
their natures, who was not versed in their names, as being
not present at the general survey of animals when Adam
assigned unto every one a name concordant unto its nature.

his hypothesis on the fact that the Hebrew word {nachash, Gen. iii. 1)
is nearly the same with an Arabic word, signifying an ape and THE
DEvnj ! He thus sums up : " In thi.s account we find, 1. That what-
ever tliis nachash was, he stood at the head of all inferior animals for
wisdom and understanding. 2. That he walked erect, for this is neces
sarily implied in his punishment — mi thy belly (i. e. on all fours) shall
tkou go. 3. That he was endued with the fjift of speech, for a conversa-
tion is here related between him and the woman. 4. That he was also
endueil with the gift of reason, for we find him reasoning and disputing
with Eve. 5. That these things were common to this creature, the woman
no doubt having often seen him walk erect, talk, and reason, and there-
fore she testifies no kind of surprise when he accosts her in the languao^e
related in the text." Granting, for a moment, the Doctor's five posi-
tions, I would ask, does he mean that the ape is a creature which now
answers the description ? Most certainly it does not, any more than the
serpent. If on the other hand he means that the creature, through
whom Satan tempted Eve, had previously possessed those advantages,
but lost them as a punishment of that offence, then why not suppose it
to have been a serpent, or any other creature, as well as the ape ? The
theory itself stultifies any attempt to discover the tempter aniono-
creatures noio in existence, because we are required to suppose their
nature and habits to have totally changed. The serpent certainly has
one claim, which the ape has not, namely, that its present mode of o-oincr
is (in accordance with the Scriptural description) on its belly ; which,
with deference to the learned Doctor, "going on all fours " is not, unless
he can justify what he in fact says, that quadrupeds and reptiles move
alike ! Moreover, his selection is specially unfortunate in this very
respect, that of all animals the ape now approaches most nearly to the
human mode of walking, and exhibits therefore the most incomplete
example of the fulfilment of the curse — " on thy belly shalt thou go."

Hadrian Beverland, in his Peccatum Originale, 12mo. 1676, has pub-
lished his strange speculations as to the nature of the temptation, to
which our mother yielded. But after all, neither as one point nor
another, which has not been clearly revealed, shall we be likely either
to obtain or communicate any useful information. The indulgence of a
prurient and speculative imagination on points which, not having been
disclosed, cannot be discovered, and the knowledge of which would
serve no good purpose, were far better restrained. We know, alas,
that what constituted sin originally, has ever been and ever will be its
heinous feature in the sight of the Great Lawgiver — viz., disobedience
to his known and understood commands.

14 OF TUE PICTURE OF ADAM ANIJ EVE. [bOOK V.

Nor is this only my opinion, but the determination of Lom-
bard and Tostatus, and also the reply of Cyril unto the
objection of Julian, who compared this story unto the fablea
of the Greeks.

CHAPTEE V.

Of the Picture of Adam and Eve with Navels.

Another mistake there may be in the picture of our first
parents, who after the manner of their posterity are both
delineated with a navel ; and this is observable not only in
ordinary and stained pieces, but in the authentic draughts
of Urbin, Angelo, and others.^ Which notwithstanding
cannot be allowed, except we impute that unto the first
cause, which we impose not on the second, or what we deny
unto Nature, we impute unto naturity itself, that is, that in
the first and most accomplished piece, the Creator aflected
superfluities, or ordained parts without use or office.^

' and others.] It is observable in the rude figures of Adam and Eve,
among the illuminations ot Caedmon's Metrical Paraphrase of Scripture
History, engraved in the 2-tth vol. of the Archceologia. But worse mis-
takes have been committed in depicting " our first parents." In the
gallery of the convent of Jesuits, at Lisbon, there is a fine picture of
Adam in paradise, dressed (qu. after the fall ?) in blue breeches with
silver buckles, and Eve with a striped petticoat. In the distance
appears a procession of capuchins bearing the cross.

'■' Which noticithstanding, tfcc] It seems to have been the intention
of our author, in this somewhat obscure sentence, to object, that, in
supposing Adam to have been formed with a navel, we suppose a super-
fluity in that which was produced by nature (naturity), while in nature
herself we alfirm there is nothing superfluous, or useless. It is, how-
ever, somewhat hazardous to pronounce that useless whose office may
not be very obvious to us. Who will venture to point out the office of
the mammce in the male sex ? or to say wherefore some of the serpent
tribes are provided with the rudiments of feet which can scarcely, if at
all, be of any use to them ? — a fact which has been asserted recently by
a German naturalist of distinction, Dr. Mayer, as the result of long and
very extensive anatomical examination of the principal families of the
serpents. He thereon proposes a new division of the order, — into PHiE-
NOPTERA, those snakes whose rudimental feet are externally visible, and
comprising Boa, Python, Eryx, Clothonia, and Tortrix ; Crtptopoda, in
which the bony rudiments are entirely concealed beneath the skin, con-
taining Anyuis, Typhlops, and Amphisbwna ; and Chondkopoda and

CHAP. T.] OF TUE PICTUIIE OF ADAM AND EVE. 15

For the use of the navel is to continue the infant unto the
mother, and by the vessels thereof to convey its aliment and
sustentation. The vessels whereof it consisteth, are the
umbilical vein, which is a branch of the porta, and implanted
in the liver of the infant ; two arteries likewise arising from
the iliacal branches, by which the infant receiveth the purer
portion of blood and spirits from the mother ; and lastly, the
urachos or ligamental passage derived from the bottom of
the bkidder, whereby it dischargeth the waterish and urinary
part of its aliment. Now upon the birth, when the infant
forsaketh the womb, although it dilacerate, and break the
involvmg membranes, yet do these vessels hold, and by the
mediation thereof the infant is connected unto the womb,
not only before, but awhile also after the birth. These
therefore the midwife cutteth olF, contriving them into a
knot close unto the body of the infant ; from whence ensueth
that tortuosity or complicated nodosity we usually call the
navel ; occasioned by the colligation of vessels before men-
tioned. Now the navel being a part, not precedent, but
subsequent unto generation, nativity, or parturition, it can-
not be well imagined at the creation or extraordinary forma-
tion of Adam, who immediately issued from the artifice of
God ; nor also that of Eve, who was not solemnly begotten,
but suddenly framed, and anomalously proceeded from Adam.

And if we be led into conclusions that Adam had also this

Apoda, in which the rudiments are scarcely, or not at all, observable. —
Nova Acta Acad. Ccesar. Naturce Curiosorum, torn. xii. p. 2.

Respecting the singular subject of discussion in this chapter ; it
appears to me that not only Adam and Eve, but all species, both of the
animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, were created at once in their
perfect state, and therefore all exhibiting such remaining traces of a less
perfect state, as those species, in their maturity, retain. If so, Adam
was created with the marks of an earlier stage of existence, though he
had never passed through that stage.

Sir Thomas's opinion is cited and adopted by Dr. John Bulwer, in
his most curious work, entitled Anthropoinetamoi'phosis : Man Tra'ns-
formed : or the Artificial Changling, Historically Presented, drc. 4to.
1653, p. 401. In the same work (p. 4S2), Dr. B. also discusses atsome
length Sir Thomas's chapter on pigmies (c. xi. book iv.). — See
Mel. Med., where Adam is called " the man without a navel." Ross
deems the part in question to have been intended by the Creator
merely for ornament ; in support of which opinion he cites Canticles
vii. 2 ! !

IG or THE PICTURE OF ADAM A>^D EVE. [bOOK T.

part, because we behold the same in ourselves, the inference
is not reasonable ; for if we conceive the way of his forma-
tion, or of the first animals, did carry in all points a strict
conformity unto succeeding productions, we might fall into
imaginations that Adam was made without teeth ; or that he
ran through those notable alterations in the vessels of tfhe
heart, which the infant suffereth after birth : we need not
dispute whether the egg or bird were first ; and might con-
ceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they
are littered so with us. Which to affirm, is to confound, at
least to regulate creation unto generation, the first acts of
God, unto the second of nature ; which were detei'mined in
that general indulgence, increase and multiply, produce or
propagate each other ; that is, not answerably in all points,
but in a prolonged method according to seminal progression.
For the formation of things at first was different from their
generation after ; and although it had nothing to precede it,
was aptly contrived for that which should succeed it. And
therefore though Adam were framed without this part, as
having no other womb than that of his proper principles, yet
was not his posterity without the same ; for the seminality
of his fabrick contained the power thereof ; and was endued
with the science of those parts whose predestinations upon
succession it did accomplish.

All the navel, therefore, and conjunctive part we can sup-
pose in Adam, was his dependency on his Maker, and the
connexion he must needs have unto heaven, who was the
Son of God. For, holding no dependence on any preceding
efficient but God, in the act of his production there may
be conceived some connexion, and Adam to have been in a
momental navel with his Maker.^ And although from his
carnality and corporal existence, the conjunction seemeth no
nearer than of causality and effect ; yet in his immortal and
di^dner part he seemed to hold a nearer coherence, and an
umbilicality even with God himself. And so indeed although
the propriety of this part be found but in some animals, and
many species there are which have no navel at all; yet is there
one link and common connexion, one general ligament, and

^ in a momental navel with his Maker.] Momental ; important.
" Substantially 'pr in an important sense), in a state of connexion with
his Maker."

CHAP. VI.] OF THE JEWS AT THEIE FEASTS. 17

necessary obligation of all whatever unto Grod. "WTiereby,
although they act themselves at distance, and seem to be
at loose, yet do they hold a continuity with their Maker.
Which catenation or conserving union, whenever his pleasure
shaU divide, let go, or separate, they shall fall from their
existence, essence, and operations ; in brief, they must re-
tire unto their primitive nothing, and shrink into their
chaos again.

They who hold the egg was before the bird, prevent this
doubt in many other animals, which also extendeth imto
them. For birds are nourished by umbilical vessels, and
the navel is manifest sometimes a day or two after exclusion.
The same is probable in all oviparous exclusions, if the
lesser part of eggs must serve for the formation, the greater
part for nutriment. The same is made out in the eggs of
snakes ; and is not improbable in the generation of por-
wiggles or tadpoles, and may be also true in some vermi-
parous exclusions : although (as we have observed in the
daily progress in some) the whole maggot is little enough
to make a fly, without any part remaining.'*

CHAPTER VI.

Of the Pictures of the Jews and Eastern Nations, at their Feasts, especially
our Saviour at the Passover.

CoNCEBKiKQ- the pictures of the Jews, and eastern nations
at their feasts, concerning the gesture of our Saviour at the
passover, who is usually described sitting upon a stool or
bench at a square table, in the midst of the twelve, many
make great doubt ; and (though they concede a table gesture)
will hardly allow this usual way of session.^

Wherein, restraining no man's enquiry, it will appear that
accubation, or lying down at meals, was a gesture used by
very many nations. That the Persians used it, beside the

" They who hold, tfcc] This paragraph was first added in the 2nd
edition.

* session.] See Fenelon's Letter to the French Academy, § 8, p.
231. Glasg. 1750. — Jeff. I give this reference, though I liave net been
able to avail myself of it.

VOL. II. C

18 OF THE JEWS AT THEIE FEASTS. [BOOK V.

testimony of humane writers, is deducible from that passage
in Esther : * " That when the king returned into the place of
the banquet of wiiie, Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon
Esther was." That the Parthians used it, is evident from
Athenaeus, who delivereth out of Possidonius, that their king
lay down at meals on an higher bed than others.^ That
Cleopatra thus entertained Anthony, the same author ma-
uifesteth, when he saith, she prepared twelve tricliniums.
That it was in use among the Greeks, the word triclinium
implieth, and the same is also declarable from many places in
the Si/mjjosiacks of Plutarch. That it was not out of fashion
in the days of Aristotle, he declareth in his Politicks ; when
among the institutionary rules of youth, he adviseth they
might not be permitted to hear iambicks and tragedies
before they were admitted unto discumbency or lying along
with others at their meals. That the Romans used this
gesture at repast, beside many more, is evident from Lipsius,
Mercurialis, Salmasius, and Ciaconius, who have expressly
and distinctly treated hereof

Now of their accumbing places, the one was called stiba-
dion and sigma, carrying the figure of an half-moon, and of
an uncertain capacity, whereupon it received the name of
liexaclinon, octoclinon, according unto that of Martial —

Accipe LunatS. scriptum testudine sigma :
Octo capit, veniat quisquis amicus erit.

Hereat in several ages the left and right hand were the
pi'incipal places, and the most honourable person, if he were
not master of the feast, possessed one of those rooms. The
other was termed triclinium, that is, three beds about a table,
as may be seen in the figures thereof, and particularly in the
BJiamnusian triclinium, set down by Mercurialis.f The cus-
tdmary use hereof was probably deduced from the frequent
use of bathing, after which they commonly retired to bed,
and refected themselves with repast ; and so that custom by
degrees changed their cubiculary beds into discubitory, and
introduced a fashion to go from the baths uuto these.

As for their gesture or position, the men lay down leaning
* Esther vii. t -^^ -^''^^ Gymnastica.

* That the Persians, tfcc] This sentence was first added in the 2nd
edition.

CHAP. TI.] OP THE JEWS AT THEIE FEASTS, 19

on their left elbow, their back being advanced by some
piUow or soft substance ; the second lay so with his back
towards the first, that his head attained about his bosom ; ^
and the rest in the same order. Por women, they sat some-
times distinctly with their sex, som'etimes promiscuously
with men, according to affection or favour, as is delivered
by Juvenal.

Gremio jacuit nova nupta mariti.

And by Suetonius, of Caligula, that at his feasts he placed
his sisters, with whom he had been incontinent, successively
in order below him.

Again, as their beds were three, so the guests did not
usually exceed that number in every one, according to the
ancient laws, and proverbial observations to begin with the
Grraces, and make up their feasts with the Muses ; and there-
fore it was remarkable in the Emperor Lucius Verus, that he
lay dovm with twelve, which was, saith Julius Capitolinus,
prceter exempla maiorum, not according to the custom of his
predecessors, except it were at public and nuptial suppers.
The regular number was also exceeded in the last supper,
whereat there were no less than thirteen, and in no place
fewer than ten, for as Josephus delivereth, it was not lawful
to celebrate the passover with fewer than that number.^

Lastly, for the disposing and ordering of the persons ; the
first and middle beds were for the guests, the third and
lowest for the master of the house and his family, he always
lying in the first place of the last bed, that is, next the middle
bed, but if the wife or children were absent, their rooms
were supplied by the ximbrce, or hangers on, according to
that of Juvenal.^

Locus est et pluribus unibris.

For the guests, the honourablest place in every bed was the
first, excepting the middle or second bed, wherein the most
honourable guest of the feast was placed in the last place,

^ hosom.'] See note 4, p. 23.

* The regular number, <£'c.] This sentence first added in 2nd edition.

* Juvetial.] (Not Juvenal, but Horace), Epist. lib. i. 8, 1. 28. See
also Hor. Sat. ii. 8, 22: " — quoa Maecenas adduxerat umbras,"
— " Porro et conviva ad coenam dicitur <TKidv suum adducere, cum
amicum aliquem non invitatum secum adducit." — Plut. 7, 6,

c2

20

OF THE JEWS AT THEIE EEASTS. [bOOK V.

because by that position he might be next the master of the
feast.* For the master lying in the first of the last bed, and
the principal guest in the last place of the second, they must
needs be next each other, as this figure doth plainly declare,
and whereby we may apprehend the feast of Perpenna made
unto Sertorius, described by Sallustius, whose words we shall
thus read with Salmasius : Igitur discubuere, Sertorius infe-
rior in medio lecto, supra Fabius ; Antonius in summo ; Infra
scriba Sertorii Versius ; alter scriba Meccenas in imo, medius
inter Tarquitium et dominum Perpennam.

snviisgiivuouoff smui}]/}

lis

6 S.g

si

mipdj^

vudng
fniumng sno(yj

is

111

At this feast there were but seven, the middle places of
the highest and middle bed being vacant, and hereat was
Sertorius the general, and principal guest slain ; and so may
we make out what is delivered by Plutarch in his life, that
lying on his back and raising himself up, Perpenna cast him-

* Jul. Scalig. Familiarum Exercitationum Probl&na 1.

CHAP. VI.] OF THE JEWS AT THEIE FEASTS. 21

self upon his stomach, which he might very well do, being
master of the feast, and lying next unto him ; and thus also
from this tricliniary disposure, we may illustrate that obscure
expression of Seneca ; that the north wind was in the middle,
the north-east on the higher side, and- the north-west on the
lower. For as appeareth in the circle of the winds, the
north-east will answer the bed of Antonius, and the north-
west that of Perpenna.

That the custom of feasting upon beds was in use among
the Hebrews, many deduce from Ezekiel,* " Thou sattest
upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it." The
custom of discalceation or putting off their shoes at meals,
is conceived to confirm the same ; as by that means keeping
their beds clean ; and therefore they had a peculiar charge
to eat the passover with their shoes on ; which injunction
were needless, if they used not to put them off. However
it were in times of high antiquity, probable it is that in after
ages they conformed unto the fashions of the Assyrians and
eastern nations, and lastly of the Eomans, being reduced by
Pompey unto a provincial subjection.^

That this discumbency at meals was in use in the days of
our Saviour, is conceived probable from several speeches of
his expressed in that phrase, even unto common auditors, as
Luke xiv. : Cum invitatus fueris ad nuptias, non discumhas in
primo loco ; and, besides many more, Matthew xxiii., when
reprehending the Scribes and Pharisees, he saith, Amant
protoclisias, id est, primos recubitus in coenis, et protocatlie-
drias, sive,primas cafhedras, in synagogis ; wherein the terms
are very distinct, and by an antithesis do plainly distinguish
the posture of sitting, from this of lying on beds. The con-
sent of the Jews with the Romans in other ceremonies and
rites of feasting makes probable their conformity in this.
The Romans washed, were anointed, and wore a cenatory
garment : and that the same was practised by the Jews, is
deducible from that expostulation of our Saviour with Simon,t
that he washed not his feet, nor anointed his head with oil ;
the common civilities at festival entertainments : and that
expression of his concerning the cenatory or wedding gar-

• Ezek, xxiii. + Luke \-ii.

ffoieever it were, d:c.] Thia sentence was first added in 2nd edition

22 OF OIJB, SATIOUE AT THE PASSOVER. ^BOOK V.

meut ;* and as some conceive of the linen garment of the
young man, or St. John ; which might be the same he wore
the night before at the last supper.^

That they used this gesture at the passover, is more than
probable from the testimony of Jewish writers, and particu-
larly of Ben-Maimon recorded by Scaliger, De Emendatione
temporum. After the second cup according to the institu-
tion, the son asketh, what meaneth this service ? f then he
that maketh the declaration, saith, liow chfterent is this night
from all other nights ; for all other nights we wash but once,
but this night twice ; all other we eat leavened or mileavened
bread, but this only leavened ; aU other we eat flesh roasted,
boiled, or baked, but this only roasted ; all other nights we
eat together lying or sitting, but this only lying along. And
this posture they used as a token of rest and security which
they enjoyed, far different from that at the eating of the
passover in Egypt.

That this gesture was used when our Saviour eat the pass-
over, is not conceived improbable from the words whereby the
Evangelists express the same, that is, avaTviwTELv, avaKilaQai,
KaTaKEiadai, arak\(0j}rat,which terms do properly signify this
gesture, in Aristotle, Athenaeus, Eiu-ipides, Sophocles, and
aU humane authors ; and the like we meet with in the para-
phrastical expression of jN'onnus.

Lastly, if it be not fully conceded, that this gesture was
used at the passover, yet that it was observed at the last
supper seems almost incontrovertible : for at this feast or
cenatory convention, learned men make more than one sup-
per, or at least many parts thereof. The first was that legal
one of the passover, or eating of the paschal lamb with bitter
herbs, and ceremonies described by Moses. ;{: Of this it is
said, " Then when the even was come, he sat down with the
twelve." § This is supposed when it is said, that the supper
being ended, our Savioui- arose, took a towel and washed the
disciples' feet. The second was common and domestical,
consisting of ordinary and imdefined provisions ; of this it
may be said, that oui' Saviour took his garment, and sat down
again, after he had washed the disciples' feet, and performed

* Matt. xxii. f Exod. xii. % Matt. xxvi. § John xiii.

* the consent of the Jews, d-c.] First added in 2nd edition.

CHAP, Tl.] OF OlTll SAVIOUR AT THE PASSOVER 23

the preparative civilities of suppers ; at this 'tis conceivea
the sop was given unto Judas, the original word implying
some broth or decoction, not used at the passover. The
third or latter part was eucharistical, which began at the
breaking and blessing of the bread, according to that of
Matthew, " And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and
blessed it."

Now although, at the passover or first supper, many have
doubted this reclining posture, and some have affirmed that
oiu" Saviour stood, yet that he lay down at the other, the
same men have acknowledged, as Chrysostom,* Theophylact,
Austin, and many more. And if the tradition wiU hold, the
position is imquestionable ; for the very triclinium is to be
seen at Rome, brought thitlier by Vespasian, and graphi-
phicaUy set forth by Casalius.'^

Thus may it properly be made out, what is delivered, John
xiii. ; Erat recumhens unus ex discipiilin ejus in sinu Jesu
quern diligebat ; " Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom
one of his disciples whom Jesus loved ;" which gesture will
not so well agree unto tlie position of sitting, but is natural,
and cannot be avoided in the laws of accubation."^ And the

*De Veteruni Ritibus.

' Lastly, if it he not, <fcc.] This and the next paragraph were first
added in the 2nd edition.

* which gesture, <£r.] I am not aware whether our author had any
authority for saying that " the back was advanced by some pillow or soft
substance." If it was so, John could not very conveniently have leaned
back upon the bosom of his master. It seems probable that each per-
son lay at an acute angle with the line of the table (as seems implied in
the following quotation), in which case the head of John, as our author
observes, p. 19, would have attained to about his master's bosom. It
must also (as it seems to me) be supposed that the table was scarcely, if
at all, higher than the level of the couch. I subjoin Godwin's description
of the table, &c. " The table being placed in the middest, roundabout
the table were certain beds, sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes
more, according to the number of the guests ; upon these they lay down
in manner as foUoweth : each bed contained three persons, sometimes
more, — seldom or never more (qu. fewer ?) If one lay upon the bed,
then he rested the upper part of his body upon the left elbow, the lower
part lying at length upon the bed : but if many lay on the bed, then the
uppermost did lie at the bed's head, laying his feet behinde the second's
back : in like manner the thiwl or fourth did lye, each resting his head
in the other's bosome. Thus John leaned on Jesus;' bosom." — Moses and
Aaron, p. 93, 4to. 1667.

24 or OUE SATIOUE AT THE PASSOTEB. [bOOK T.

very same expression is to be found in Pliny, concerning the
emperor Nerva and Veiento whom he favoured ; Coenahat
Nerva cum paucis, Veiento recumhebat propius atque etiam
in sinu ; and from this custom arose the word tTnaTyjBtoc,
that is, a near and bosom friend. And therefore Casaubon*
justly rejecteth Theophylact ; * who not considering the
ancient manner of decumbency, imputed this gesture of the
beloved disciple imto rusticity, or an act of incivility. And
thus also, have some conceived it may be more plainly made
out what is delivered of Mary Magdalen, that she " stood at
Christ's feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet
with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head."t
WTiich actions, if our Saviour sat, she could not perform
standing, and had rather stood behind his back than at his
feet. And therefore it is not allowable, what is observable
in many pieces, and even of Raphael Urbin, wherein Mary
Magdalen is pictured before our Saviour washing his feet on
her knees, which will not consist with the strict description
and letter of the text.

Now, whereas this position may seem to be discounte-
nanced by our translation, which usually renders it sitting, it
cannot have that illation : for the French and Italian trans-
lations, expressing neither position of session nor recubation,
do only say that he placed himself at the table ; and when
ours expresseth the same by sitting, it is in relation unto
our custom, time, and apprehension. The like upon occasion
is not unusual : so when it is said, Luke iv., vTvlaQ to ftt^Xiov^
and the Vulgate renders it, cum plicdsset librum, ours trans-
lateth it, he shut or closed the book ; which is an expression
proper unto the paginal books of our times, but not so agree-
able unto volumes or rolling books, in use among the Jews,
not only in elder times, but even unto this day. So when
it is said, the Samaritan delivered imto the host twopence

* Not. in Evang. t Luke vii.

* Theophylact.'] Theophylact, bishop of Bulgary, lived 930th yeare
of Christe, in which time the empire being translated into Germanye,
and the maner of lying at all meales translated into the maner of sitting,
which was most used among the northern nations, gave the bishop
occasion to taxe the Jewish and Roman forme of lying as uncouth and
uncivil : every nation prefen-ing their owne customes, and condeuming
all other as barbarians. — Wr.

CHAP. VI.] OF OUE SAVIOUB AT THE PASSOTER. 25

for the pro ision of the Levite, and when our Saviour agreed
with the labourers for a penny a day, in strict translation it
should be seven-pence halfpenny, and is not to be conceived
our common penny, the sixtieth part of an ounce. For the
word in the original is crivdpiov, in Latin denarius, and with
the Romans did value the eighth part of an ounce, which,
after five shillings the ounce, amounteth unto seven-pence
halfpenny of our money.

Lastly, whereas it might be conceived that they ate the
passover, standing rather than sitting, or lying down, accord-
ing to the institution, Exodus xii., " Thus shall you eat with
your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff
in your hand ;" the Jews themselves reply, this was not
required of succeeding generations, and was not observed
but in the passover of Egypt. And so also many other
injunctions were afterward omitted : as the taking up of
the paschal lamb from the tenth day, the eating of it in their
houses dispersed, the striking of the blood on the door-posts,
and the eating thereof in haste ; solemnities and ceremonies
primitively enjoined, afterward omitted ; as was also this
of station : for the occasion ceasing, and being in security,
they applied themselves unto gestures in use among them.

Now in what order of recumbency Christ and the disciples
were disposed, is not so easily determined. Casalius, from
the Lateran triclinium, will tell us, that there being thirteen,
five lay down in the first bed, five in the last, and three in
the middle bed ; and that our Saviour possessed the upper
place thereof. That John lay in the same bed seems plain,
because he leaned on our Saviour's bosom. That Peter
made the third in that bed, conjecture is made, because he
beckoned unto John, as being next him, to ask of Christ who
it was that should betray him ? That Judas was not far off,
seems probable, not only because he dipped in the same dish,
but because he was so near that our Saviour could hand the
Bop unto him.^

* N</w m what order, ic] This paragraph was added iu 2nd edit.

26 or OUB SATIOUE WITH LONG HAIE, [bOOK T.

CHAPTEE VII.

Of the Picture of our Saviour with Long Hair.

Anothee picture there is of our Saviour described with
long hair/ according to the custom of the Jews, and his
description sent by Lentulus unto the senate.^ Wherein

' Another picture, dccJl A very beautiful head of our Saviour has
recently been engraved in mezzotint, by J. Rogers. It is a copy from
a gem, said to have been executed by order of Tiberius Ctesar, and sub-
sequently sent to Pope Innocent VIII. by the emperor of the Turks
as a ransom for his brother.

Another error has been noticed by some commentators in represent-
ing our Lord with a crown of long thorns, whereas it is supposed to
have been made of the acanthus, or bears-foot, a prickly plant, very
unlike a thorn. See Dr. Adam Clarke, in loc.

" his description sent by Lentulus, <i-c.] Or rather said to have been
sent by Lentulus, &c. ; for this letter is now known to have been a
forgery. The supposed author was a Roman governor of Sjrria ; of
whom it was pretended that he was a follower of our Lord, and that he
gave a description of his person in a letter to the senate. This was
however obviously insupposable at a period when the governors of
provinces addressed the emperor, and no longer the senate ; to say
nothing of the style, which is by no means Augustan. The fact is, as
has been remarked to me, that when publick opinion had been made up
as to the probable appearance of our Lord's person, this letter comes
out to settle the point. In No. 7026-4 of the Harleian MSS. is pre-
served a copy of this letter, on vellum, in the beautiful handwriting of
the celebrated German dwarf Math. Buchinger, which he sent to his
patron. Lord Oxford. It contains also a portrait agreeing with the
description given in the letter. This letter has been translated into
English, and occurs, Christ. Mag. 1764, p. 455, and other places.

Perhaps the most celebrated of the reputed origin.al portraits of the
Redeemer is that said to have been received by Abgarus, king of
Edessa, mentioned by Evagrius. Eusebius gives a letter sent by the
said Abgar to Jesus Christ, professing the conviction which the Re-
deemer's miracles had wrought in his mind of the divine character of
our Lord, and entreating him to come to Edessa and cure a disease
under which the king had long laboured; — together with our Lord ' s
answer, declining to come, but promising to send a disciple to heal the
king. For these letters see Hone's Apocryphal New Testament. In hia
Evo-y- Day Book, Jan. 13th, he gives a wood-cut of the portrait. In the
London Literary Gazette of Nov. 29, 1834, is a much better account of
the circumstance, in a review of Baron Hubboff's History of Armenia,
published by the Oriental Translation Society. I subjoin his account of
the picture. " Abgar sent a painter to take the likeness of tJ i Saviour,

CHAP. VII.] OF OTJE SATIOUIi WITH LONG HAIE. 27

indeed tlie hand of the painter is not accusable, but the judg-
ment of the common spectator : conceiving he observed this
fashion of his hair, because he was a Nazarite ; and con-
.foundiag a Nazarite by vow, with those by birth or educa-
tion.

The Nazarite by vow is declared, Numbers vi. ; and was
to refrain three things, drmkiag of wine, cutting the hair,
and approaching unto the dead ; and such an one was Samp-
son. Now that our* Saviour was a Nazarite after this kind,
we have no reason to determine ; for he drank wine, and
was therefore called by the Pharisees a wine-bibber; he
approached also the dead, as when he raised from death
Lazarus, and the daughter of Jairus.

The other Nazarite was a topical appellation, and appli-
able unto such as were born in Nazareth, a city of Gralilee,
and in the tribe of Napthali. Neither, if strictly taken, was
our Saviour in this sense a Nazarite, for he was born in
Bethlehem ia the tribe of Judah ; but might receive that
name because he abode ia that city, and was not only con-
ceived therein, but there also passed the silent part of his life
after his return from Egypt ; as is delivered by Matthew,
" And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, he shall
be called a Nazarene." Both which kinds of Nazarites, as
they are distinguishable by Zain, and Tsade ia the Hebrew,
so in the Greek, by Alpha and Omega : for, as Janseniua
observeth,* where the votary Nazarite is mentioned, it is
written, Na^apdlog, as Levit. vi. and Lament, iv. Where it

* Jans. Concordia Evangelica.

if he would not vouchsafe to visit Edessa. The painter made many vain
attempts to draw a correct likeness of our Saviour. But Jesus, being
willing to satisfy the desire of King Abgar, took a clean handkerchief
and applied it to his countenance. In that same hour, by a miraculous
power, his features and likeness were represented on the handkerchief."
Tlie picture thus miraculously produced, is said to have been the means
of delivering the city from the siege laid to it by Chosroes, the Persian,
500 years afterwards. Thaddeus went to Edessa after Christ's ascension
and healed Abgar.

See also Mr. W. Huttman's Life of Christ, where will be found a
copious account of the portrait of Jesus Christ, published in prints,
coins, &c. Mr. Huttman spells the name of the king of Edessiv,
Agha/r.

28 OF ABBAHAM SACRIFICING ISAAC. [bOOK T.

is spoken of our Saviour, we read it, Na^wpatoc, as in Mat-
thew, Luke, and John ; only Mark, who writ his gospel at
Rome, did Latinize and wrote it Na^apjyi'dc.

CHAPTEE yill.

Of the Picture of Ahraham sacrificing Isaac.

In the picture of the immolation of Isaac, or Abraham
sacrificing his son, Isaac is described as a little boy ;^ which
notwithstanding is not consentaneous unto the authority of
expositors, or the circumstance of the text. For therein it
is delivered that Isaac carried on his back the wood for the
sacrifice, which being an holocaust or burnt-ofiering to be
consumed unto ashes, we cannot well conceive a burthen for
a boy ; but such a one unto Isaac, as that which it typified
was unto Christ, that is, the wood or cross whereon he suf-
fered, which was too hea\y a load for his shoulders, and was
fain to be relieved therein by Simon of Cyrene.^

Again he was so far from a boy, that he was a man grown,
and at his full stature, if we believe Josephus, who placeth
him in the last of adolescency, and makes him twenty-five
years old. And whereas in the vulgar translation he is
termed puer,^ it must not be strictly apprehended (for that

^ as a little 6oi/.] More absurd representations have been made of
this event. Bourgoanne notices a painting in Spain where Abraham is
preparing to shoot Isaac with a pistol ! Phil. Rohr (Pictor Errans)
mentions one in which Abraham's weapon was a sword.

' too heavy a load, d-c] Some painters have accordingly represented
Christ and Simon of Cyrene as both employed in carrying the cross.
Some have supposed, as Lipsius notices, that only a part (probably the
transverse portion) of the cross was borne by our Lord. — Lipsii Opera,
vol. iii. p. 658.

^ pucr.] In the Greeke the word [Tratc] is ambiguous and, as wee say,
polysen on, signifying diversely e according to the subject to which it
relates : as when it relates to a lord and master it signifies a servant,
and is to bee soe translated : where itt relates to a father itt signifyes a
Bonne. The old translation is therefore herein faulty, which takes the
word in the prime grammatical sense for a child, which is not always
true. In the 4th cap. of the Acts, vers. 25, itt renders AaCi5 rov iradoq
aov, David pueri tui, and in the 27th,7raitd aov 'I/yaoiii' puerumtuum

CHAP. IX.] OF MOSES WITH HOEKS. 29

age properly endeth in puberty, and extendeth but unto four-
teen), but respectively unto Abraham, who was at that time
above six score. And therefore also herein he was not un-
like unto him, who was after led dumb unto the slaughter,
and commanded by others, who had legions at command ;
that is, in meekness and humble submission. For had he
resisted, it had not been in the power of his aged parent to
have enforced ; and many at his years have performed such
acts, as few besides at any. David was too strong for a
lion and a bear ; Pompey had deserved the name of Great ;
Alexander of the same cognomination was generalissimo of
Greece ; and Annibal, but one year after, succeeded Asdru-
bal in. that memorable war against the Romans.

CHAPTEE IX.

Of the Pictv/re of Moses with Horns.

In many pieces, and some of ancient bibles, Moses is
described with horns.^ The same description we find in a
silver medal ; that is, upon one side Moses horned, and on the
reverse the commandment against sculptile images. Which
is conceived to be a coinage of some Jews, in derision of
Christians, who first began that portrait."*

The ground of this absurdity was surely a mistake of the
Hebrew text, in the history of Moses when he descended
from the mount, upon the affinity of kceren and karan, that
is, an horn, and to shine, which is one quality of horn. The
vulgar translation conforming imto the former ; Ignorahat
quod cornuta esset fades ejus.* Qui videhant faciem Mosis
esse cornutam. But the Chaldee paraphrase, translated by
Paulus Eagius, hath otherwise expressed it : Moses nescielat
* Exod. xxxiv. 29, 30.

lesum, in both places absurdly : •which Beza observed and corrected ;
rendering the first by the word servant, and the later by the word
Sonne rightlye and learnedlye. — Wr.

^ In many pieces, tfec] And in Michael Angelo's Statue of Moses in
St. Peter's at Rome.

* The same description, etc.] This sentence was first added in 2nd
edition.

30 or MOSES WITH HOENS. [BOOK T.

quod multus esset splendor glorice vultus ejus. Et viderunt
filii Israel quod multa esset claritas glorice faciei Mosis.^
The expression of the Septuagint is as large, ^f^dsoorai »/ '64"-Q
Tov "^pwjiaroQ tov TTpocwTrov, Gloi'ijicafus est aspectus cutis, seu
color is faciei.

And this passage of the Old Testament is well explained
by another of the New ; wherein it ia delivered, that " they
could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses," * Idi Tt)r co^av
TOV Trpoo-wTTov, that is, for the glory of his countenance. And
surely the exposition of one text is best performed by an-
other;^ men vainly interposing their constructions, where
the Scripture decideth the controversy. And therefore some
have seemed too active in their expositions, who in the story
of Eahab the harlot, have given notice that tlie word also
signifieth an hostess ; for in the epistle to the Hebrews, she
is plainly termed woprr]/ which signifies not an hostess, but a
pecuniary and prostituting harlot,t a term applied unto Lais
by the Greeks, and distinguished from kraipci, or arnica, as
may appear in the thirteenth of AthensBus.

And therefore more allowable is the translation of Tre-

* 2 Cor. iii. 13.

+ What kind of harlot she was, read Camar. de Vita Elice.

* But the Chaldce, <£-c.] First added in 2nd edition.

® another. '\ This is a golden rule, as necessary as infallible. — Wr.

' in the epistle, A-c.] Dr. Adam Clarke (on Joshua ii. 2), admitting
thatTTopi';; generally signifies a prostitute, contends nevertheless that it
might not have been used in that sense here : he asks why the derived
meaning of the word, fi-om iropvaoj, to sell, may not have reference to
goods, as well as to person ? In that sense he observes the Chaldee
Targum understood the word, and in their translation gave it accord-
ingly the meaning of a tavern keeper. He concludes rather a long article
by saying, " it is most likely that she was a single woman, or widow,
who got her bread honestly, by keeping a house of entertainment for
strangers." He proceeds however in tins criticism, on a principle
v?hich he has elsewhere laid down, " that the writers of the New Tes-
tament scarcely ever quote the Old Testament, but from the Septuagint
translation ;" thus he contents himself with a rabbinical version of the
LXX— and to that interpretation would bind the apostle.

Dr. Gill notices the rabbinical authorities in favour of the intei-pre-
tation adopted by Dr. Clarlie, but ren^rks that the Jews commonly
take Eahab to be a harlot ; and that generally speaking, in those times
and countries such as kept public houses were prostitutes. He notices
the Greek version and decidedly leans to the usual acceptation of the
term.

CHAP. IX.] OF MOSES WITH nORNS. 31

mellius, quod splendida facta esset cutis faciei ejus ; or as
Estius hath interpreted it, fades ejus erat radiosa, his face
was radiant, and dispersing beams like many horns and cones
about his head ; which is also consonant unto the original
signification, and yet observed in the .pieces of our Saviour,
and the Virgin Mary, who are commonly drawn with scintil-
lations, or radiant halos about their head ; which, after the
Trench expression, are usually termed the glory.

Now if, besides this occasional mistake, any man shall con-
tend a propriety in this picture, and that no injury is done
unto truth by this description, because an horn is the hiero-
glyphick of authority, power, and dignity, and in this meta-
phor is often used in Scripture ; the piece I confess in this
acception is harmless and agreeable unto Moses ; and, under
such emblematical constructions, we find that Alexander the
Great, and Attila king of the Huns, in ancient medals are
described with horns. But if from the common mistake, or
any solary consideration, we persist in this description, we
vilify the mystery of the irradiation, and authorize a danger-
ous piece, conformable unto that of Jupiter Ammon ; which
was the sun, and therefore described with horns, as is deli-
vered by Macrobius ; Hammonem quern Deum solem occi-
dentem Libyes existimant, arietinis cornihus ftngunt, quibus
id animal valet, sicut radiis sol. We herein also imitate the
picture of Pan, and pagan emblem of nature. And if (as
Macrobius and very good authors concede) Bacchus (who is
also described with horns), be the same deity with the sun ;
and if (as Vossius well contendeth)* Moses and Bacchus
were the same person ; their descriptions must be relative,
or the tauricornous picture of the one, perhaps the same
with the other.'^

* De Origine Idololatrice.

^ any solary consideration.] Solary, 'relating to the sun.' — The
Hebrew word used in this passage signifies to shoot forth, and may be
appUed perliaps to rays of Ught, as well as to horns. Bp. Taylor, in his
Holy Dying, p. 17, describes the rising sun, as "peeping over the
eastern hills, thrusting out his golden horns, <i;c." — Jeff.

32 THE SCUTCHEONS OF THE TWELVE TEIBES. [bOOK T.

CHAPTER X.

Of the Scutcheons of the Twelve Tnhes of Israel,

"We will not pass over the scutcheons of the tribes of Israel,
as they are usually described in the maps of Canaan and
several other pieces ; generally conceived to be the proper
coats, and distinctive badges of their several tribes. So
Eeuben is conceived to bear three bars wave, Judah a lion
rampant, Dan a serpent nowed, Simeon a sword impale, the
poiut erected, &c.* The ground whereof is the last bene-
diction of Jacob, wherein he respectively draweth compa-
risons from things here represented.

Now herein although we allow a considerable measure of
truth, yet whether, as they are usually described, these were
the proper cognizances, and coat-arms of the tribes ; whether
in this manner applied, and upon the grounds presmned,
material doubts remain.

For first, they are not strictly made out from the prophe-
tical blessing of Jacob ; for Simeon and Levi have distinct
coats, that is, a sword, and the two tables, yet are they by
Jacob included in one prophecy ; " Simeon and Levi are
brethren, instruments of cruelty are in their habitations."
So Joseph beareth an ox, whereof notwithstanding there is
no mention in this prophecy ; for therein it is said, " Joseph
is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well ; " by
which repetition are intimated the two tribes descending
from him, Ephraim and Manasses ; whereof notwithstanding
Ephraim only beareth an ox. True it is, that many years
after, in the benediction of Moses, it is said of Joseph, " His
glory is like the firstlings of his bullock : " and so we may
concede, what Vossius learnedly declareth, that the Egyptians
represented Joseph in the symbol of an ox ; for thereby was
best implied the dream of Pharaoh, which he interpreted,
the benefit by agricultm*e, and provident provision of com
which he performed ; and therefore did Serapis bear a bushel
upon his head.

Again, if we take these two benedictions together, the
resemblances are not appropriate, and Moses therein con-

* Gen. xlix.

CHAP. X. j THE SCUTCllEOKS OF THE TWELTE TRIBES. 33

forms not uiiti Jacob ; for that which in the phophecy of
Jacob is appropriated unto one, is in the blessing of Moses
made common unto others. ISo, whereas Jndah is compared
mato a lion by Jacob, Judah is a lion's whelp, the same is
applied unto Dan by Moses, " Dan is a lion's whelp, he shall
leap from Bashan ; " and also unto Gad, " he dwell eth as a
Hon."

Thirdly, if a lion were the proper coat of Judah, yet were
it not probably a lion rampant, as it is commonly described,
but rather couchant or dormant, as some heralds and rabbins
do determine, according to the letter of the text, Beciimbens
dormisti iit ho, " He couched as a lion, and as a young lion,
who shall rouse him ?"

Lastly, when it is said, " Every man of the children of
Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of
their father's house ;"* upon enquiry what these standards
and ensigns were, there is no small incertainty, and men con-
form not unto the prophecy of Jacob. Christian expositors
are fain herein to rely upon the rabbins, who notwithstand-
ing are various in their traditions, and confirm not these
common descriptions. For as for inferior ensigns, either of
particular bands or houses, they determine nothing at all ;
and of the four principal or legionary standards, that is, of
Judah, Eeuben, Ephraim, and Dan (under every one whereof
marched three tribes), they explain them very variously.
Jonathan, who compiled the Tarffum, conceives the colours
of these banners to answer the precious stones in the breast-
plate, and upon which the names of the tribes were engraven.f
So the standard for the camp of Judah was of three colours,
according unto the stones, chalcedony, sapphire, and sardo-
nyx ; and therein were expressed the names of the three
tribes, Judah, Issachar, and Zabulon ; and in the midst
thereof was written, " Rise up, Lord, and let thy enemies be
scattered ; and let them that hate thee, flee before thee : J in
it was also the portrait of a lion. The standard of Reuben
was also of three colours, sardine, topaz, and amethyst ;
therein were expressed the names of Reuben, Simeon, and
Gad, in the midst was written, " Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord

* Num. ii.

+ The like also P. Fagius upon the Targum or Chaldee Paraphrase
of Onkelos, Num. i. J Num. x.

VOL. II. B

34 THE SCUTCHEONS OF THE TWELVE TRIBES. [bOOK V.

our God, the Lord is one ;" * therein was also the portraiture
of a hart. But Abenezra and others, beside the colours of
the field, do set down other charges, in. Reuben's the form of
a man or mandi'ake, in that of Judah a lion, in Ephraim's an
ox, in Dan's the figure of an eagle.

And thus indeed the four figiires in the banners of the
principal squadrons of Israel, are answerable unto the cheru-
bims ill the vision of Ezekiel ;t every one carrying the form
of all these. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had
the Ukeness of the face of a man, and the face of a lion on
the right side, and they four had the face of an ox on the left
side, they foiu" had also the face of an eagle. And confor-
mable hei'eunto the pictures of the evangelists (whose gospels
are the Christian banners) are set forth with the addition of
a man or angel, an ox, a lion, and an eagle. And these
symbolically represent the ofiice of angels and ministers of
Grod's will, in whom is required understanding as in a man,
coiu"age and vivacity as in the lion, service and ministerial
ofiiciousness as in the ox, expedition or celerity of execution
as in the eagle.^

* Deut. vi. + Ezek. i.

^ eagle.] The reasons which the fathers give of these emblems is
excellent and proper. St. Matthew insists on those prophecyes in
Christ, and therefore hath an angel, as itt were revealing those things to
him. St. Marke insists most upon his workes of wonder and miracles,
and therefore hathe the lyon of Judah by him. St. Luke is most copious
in those storyes which set forthe his passive obedience, and therefore
hathe the beast of sacrifice by him. And lastly, St. John, whose
gospel sores like the eagle up to heaven, and expresses the divinity of
Christe in such a sublime manner above all the rest, hath therefore
that bird set by him. They were shortly, but excellently expresst by
these four emblems at the pedestal of Prince Henrye's pillar, each of
them in a scroll uttering these four wordes, which make up a verse.
Expcdo, by the angel, invpavidus, by the lion, patiento; by the oxe,
dum renotahor, by the eagle. — Wr.

The dean's expose reminds us of that of Victorinus, Bishop of Petau,
mentioned by Dr. Clarke (in his Concise View of the Succession of Sacred
Literature, &c., p. 199, vol. i.). In his Comment on the 4th chap, of
Rev. V. 6, 7, the bishop remarks : — "The four living creatures are the
four gospels. The lion denotes Mark, in whom the voice of a lion,
roaring in the wilderness, is heard ; the voice of one that crieth in the
icilderness, <£-c. Matthew, who has the resemblance of a man, en-
deavours to show us the family of Mary, from whom Christ took flesh ;
he speakes of him as a man ; the book of the geiierations, &c. LuE£,

CHAP. X.] THE SCUTCHEONS OF THE TWELVE TEIBES, 35

From hence, therefore, we may observe that these descrip-
tions, the most authentic of any, are neither agreeable uuto
one another, nor unto the scutcheons in question. For
though they agree in Ephraim and Judah, that is, the ox and
the Hon, yet do they differ in those of Dan and Eeuben, as
far as an eagle is different from a serpent, and the figure of
a man, hart, or mandrake, from three bars wave. Wherein
notwithstanding we rather declare the incertainty of arms in
this particular,! than any way question their antiquity ; for

who relates the priesthood of Zecharias offering sacrifice for the people,
&c., has the resemblance of a calf. John, like an eagle with out-
stretched wings soaring aloft, speaks concerning the Word of God,
&c." But here we find various opinions ; for while St. Jerome, in his
Commentary on Matthew, and Gregory m his 4th Homily on Ezekiel,
give the same version as Victorinus, St. Augustine assigns the man to
Mark, and the lion to Matthew. And the dean, in the preceding note,
follows those who regard Matthew's man to have been an angel.

' the incertainty of arms in this particular.'] Not a few of our anti-
quarian writers, theologians, as well as heralds, have been anxious to
trace the origin of heraldry to the Bible. Bishop Hall, in his Innwesse
of God, says, " If the testament of the patriarchs had as much credit as
antiquity, all the patriarchs had their amies assigned them by Jacob :
Judah a lyon, Dan a serpent, Nepthali an hinde, Benjamin a wolf,
Joseph a hough, and so of the rest." Worls, fol. 1648, p. 406, E.

In Mr. Jefferson's copy occurs the following MS. note. " Sir John
Prestwick, in his MS. history of the noble family of Chichester, derives
the practice of heraldry from Gen. i. 14. 'Let them be for signs,' —
which he refers to heraldic signs."

Sylvanus Morgan begins with the creation ; " deducing from the
principles of nature " his Spjhere of Gentry, which he divides into four
books, the first entitled Adam's shield, or nobility native ; the 2nd,
Joseph's coat, or nobility dative, &c. In the latter he gives a curiously
engraven representation, and a description of Joseph's whole achieve-
ment; his coat being /ler /esse imhatled Argent and Gules out of a
Well a Tree grotving Proper, ensigned toith a Helmet of a Knight
thereon, out of a croion Mural Gides, a Wheatsheaf Or ; his Mantles being
of three sorts : the outmost being that of the gown, being cloth of gold
lined with^r^w'ne, Erminees, Erminois, a,nd Ermijiets ; the next being that
of the Cloah, accompanying him in all his adversities, being lined Vaire,
Vairy, and Cuppa ; the outside Purple: the third being the Mantle for hia
funeral, being mantled Sable, lined Argent; his Motto, Nee Sorti nee
Fato : having his wife's amies in an In-Escutcheon, she being the
daughter and heir of Potiphar, Prince and Priest of C»t .- his Sword and
Girdle on the left side. Thus he is apublick person, conferring honours
by Nobility Dative to his brethren ! ! " — Sjjhere of Gentry, book ii. p. 72.
Alas ! for poor Joseph's coat of many colours, to be thus blazoned !

Master Morgan, in setting forth the Camp of Israel seemeth not

d2

o6 THE SCUTCHEONS OF THE TWELTE TRIBES. [bOOK T.

hereof more ancient examples there are than the seutcl eons
of the tribes, if Osyris, Mizraim, or Jupiter the Just, -n-ere
the son of Cham ; for of his two sons, as Diodorus deli-
vereth, the one for his device gave a dog, the other a wolf.
And, beside the shield of Achilles, and many ancient Greeks,
if we receive the conjecture of Vossius, that the crow upon
Cor^inus' head was but the figure of that animal upon his
helmet, it is an example of antiquity among the Eomans.

But more widely must we walk if we follow the doctrine
of the Cabalists, who in each of the four banners inscribe a
letter of the tetragrammaton, or quadi'iliteral name of God ;
and mysterizing their ensigns, do make the particular ones
of the twelve tribes, accommodable imto the twelve signs in
the zodiac, and twelve months in the year ; but the tetrar-
chical or general banners of Judah, Eeuben, Ephraim, and

less exactly informed as to the precise bearing of each tribe {Ibid.
p. 78).

Judah bare Gules, a Lyon couchant or, (past.

Zabulun's black Ship's like to a man of warr.

IsSACHAR's.4sse between two burtliens girt,
As Dan's Sly Snake lies in a field of vert. jiort^.

AsHUR with azure a Cup of Gold sustains,

And Nepthali's Hind trips o'er the flowrj' plains.
Epheaim's strong Ox lyes with the couchant Hart, fflElfSt.

Manasseh's Tree its branches doth impart.

Benjamin's Wolfe in the field gules resides,
Eeuben's field argent and blew Bam Wared gWies. §OUtt.

Simeon doth beare the Sivord : and in that manner

Gad having pitched his Tent sets up his Banner.

Unfortunately, however, as our author shrewdly remarks, the " de-
scriptions" of the conoscenti are not "agreeable unto one another."
Andrew Favine, in his Theater of Honor and Knighthood, fol. 1623,
p. 4, perfectly agrees with Morgan as to the antiquity of amies and
blazons, which he does not hesitate to say " have been in use from the
creation of the world." But when he descends to particulars, their dis-
agreement is instantly apparent. To say nothing oi tinctures, half the
heaHngs are different. Favine makes Judah's lyon rampant instead of
cotuhaiit ; Eeuben bears an armed man, instead of the bcu-s wavy ; in
Epliraira's standard he omits the hart ; to Simeon he assigns two swords
instead of one ; to Gad a sword instead of a banner; (though I suspect
the description of Morgan intended a sword, but the artist, misunder-
standing his doggrel, has drawn a banner) ; to Manasseh a crowned
sceptre instead of a tree ; and to Dan, ears of corn instead of a cup of
gold.

CHAP. X.] THE SCUTCHEONS OF THE TWELYE TRIBES. 37

Dan,2 unto the signs of Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capri-
cornus;* that is, the four cardinal parts of the aodiack and
seasons of the year.^

* Recius de Coslesti Agrictdtwa, lib. iv.

' do make the particular ones, ctr.] Browne most probably alludes to
the opinion of Kircher on this point. But several other writers have
taken pains to establish the same theory. General Valiancy, in his
chapter on the astronomy of the ancient Irish ; i. e., Qdlectanea de
Rebus Hibernicis, vol. vi. ch. ix.) proposes a scheme, which Dr. Hales
has adopted, with some alterations, in his Chronology, vol. ii. At still
greater length has Sir Wm. Drummond investigated the subject, in a
paper on Gen. xlix. in the Classical Journal, vol. iii. p. 387. But here
again the authorities are at issue. Sir William thus arranges his
Zodiack : — Reuben, A quarius ; Simeon and Levi, Pisces ; Judah, Leo ;
Zebulun, Capricorn; Issachar, Cancer; Dan, Scorpius ; Gad, Aries;
Asher, Libra ; Napthali, Virgo ; Joseph, Taurus ; Benjamin, Gemini ;
Mariasseh, Sagittarius. General Valiancy on the other hand assigns to
Simeon and Levi the sign Gemini, to Zebulun, Cancer; to Issacher,
Taurus; to Napthali, Aries; to Joseph, Virgo; and to Benjamin,
Capricorn ; omitting Gad, Asher, and Manasseh. Dr. Hales also omits
Manasseh, but places Gad in Pisces, Asher in Virgo, and Joseph in
Sagittarius. There are other variations. Some have given Levi an
open bough. The banner of Gad, which in Morgan bears a lion, is also
given green, and without any device. Reuben has sometimes a man-
drake, instead of the bars or the armed man. Dan's serjjent is some-
times nowed, sometimes curled, Manasseh has sometimes an ox, and
Ephraim an unicorn or a bough. But enough of this. Further exami-
nation of the various fanciful speculations of critics and antiquaries,
whether heraldic or astronomical, will only confirm our author's con-
clusion, "of theincertainty of arms," and the iiTeconcilable discrepancy
of those who have written on the subjects of the present chapter: —
quot homines, tot sentcntice ; and how should it be otherwise in a case
where nothing can be known, and any thing may therefore be con-
jectured ? Before I close this note, however, I must be allowed to pro-
test against Sir Wm. Drummond's mode of conducting his enquiry.
With a view of enhancing the probability of his favourite theory, he
commences byeiuleavouring to prove that the patriarchs were tinctured
with polytheism, and addicted to divination and astrology ; and arrives,
in the space of half a dozen sentences, at the absurd and revolting con-
clusion, that JaKob was an astrologer, who believed himself under the
influence of the planet Saturn ! 'To what lengths will not some men go
in support of a favourite hypothesis, however fanciful ! What would
be our feelings of indignation against him who should demolish the
classical remains of Grecian antiquity, to make way for the vagaries of
modern architecture ? Less deep by far, than when we are asked to
sacrifice the hallowed and beautiful simplicity of Scripture narrative to
the base figments of rabbinical tradition, or the gratuitous assumption!
of such critics as Sir Wm. Drummond.

' But more widely, <fcc.] First added in 2nd edition.

38 OV THE PICTTIEES OF THE SYBILS. [bOOK V.

CHAPTEE XI.

Of the Pictures of the Sybils.

The pictures of the sybils are very common, and for their
prophecies of Christ in high esteem with Christians; described
commonly with youthful faces, and in a defined number.
Common pieces making twelve, and many precisely ten ;
observing therein the account of Varro, that is, Sibylla Del-
phica, Erythrcea, Samia, Oiimana, CumcBa, or Cimmeria, Sel-
lespontiaca, Libyca, Fhryyia, Tihurtina, Persica. In which
enumeration I perceive learned men are not satisfied, and
many conclude an irreconcilable incertainty ; some making
more, others fewer, and not this certain number. Por Sui-
das, though he afiirm that in divers ages there were ten, yet
the same denomination he affordeth imto more ; Boysardus,
in his tract of Divination, hath set forth the icons of these
ten, yet addeth two others, Epirotica and JEgyptia ; and
some affirm that prophesying women were generally named
sybils.

Others make them fewer : Martianus Capella two ; Pliny
and Solinus three ; -3]llian four ; and Salmasius in effect but
seven. Por discoursing thereof in his Plinian Exercitations,
he thus determineth ; Eidere licet hodiernos pictores, qui
tahulas proponunt Cumance, Cumcece et Erythrcece, quasi trium
diversarum sihyllarum ; cum una eademque fuerit Cicmana,
Cumcea, et Eryfht'cea, ex plurium et doctissimorum authorum
sententia. Boysardus gives us leave to opinion there was no
more than one ; for so doth he conclude. In tanta scriptorum
varietate liherum relinquimus lectori credere, an una et eadem
in diversis regionihus peregrinata, cognomen sortita sit ah iis
locis uii oracula reddidisse coynperitur, an plures extiterint :
and therefore not discovering a resolution of their number
from pens of the best writers, we have no reason to deter-
mine the same from the hand and pencil of painters.

As touching their age, that they are generally described
as yoimg women, history will not allow ; for the sybil whereof
Virgil speaketh, is termed by him longceva sacerdos, and Ser-
rius, in his comment, amplifieth the same. The other, that
Bold the books unto Tarquin, and whose history is plainer

CHAP. XII.] OF THE DEATU OF CLEOPATKA. 39

than any, by Livy and Gellius is termed anus ; that is, pro-
perly no woman of ordinary age, but full of years, and in the
days of dotage, according to the etymology of Festus,* and
consonant unto the history, wherein it is said, that Tarquiu
thought she doted with old age. "Which duly perpended,
the licentia pictoria is very large ; with the same reason
they may delineate old jSTe'stor like Adonis, Hecuba with
Helen's face, and time with Absolom's head. But this
absurdity that eminent artist, Michael Angelo, hath avoided,
in the pictures of the Cumean and Persian Sybils, as they
stand described from the printed sculptiires of Adam Man-
tuanus.'*

CHAPTER XII.

Of the Picture describing the death of Cleopatra.

The picture concerning the death of Cleopatra, with two
asps or venomous serpents unto her arms or breasts, or both,
requires consideration:^ for therein (beside that this variety
* Amis, quasi Avoijg, sine mente.

* Mantuanus.] On the subject of this chapter, the origin of the Sybils,
see the Abbt^ Pluche, Hist, du Ciel, vol. i. p. 263. — Jeff.

* The picture, d-c] " An ancient encaustic picture of Cleopatra has
lately been discovered, and detached from a wall, in which it had been
hidden for centuries, and supposed to be a real portrait, painted by a
Greek artist. It is done on blue slate. The colouring is fresh, very
like life. She is represented applying the aspic to her bosom." Ex-
tract from a Letter from Paris ; Phil,. Gaz. Nov. 27, 1822.— /ef.

The preceding notice refers in all probability to the painting which
was afterwards brought over to England by its possessor, Signer Micheli,
who valued it at £10,000. He caused an engraving of it to be executed,
which I have had an opportunity of seeing, in the hands of R. R. Rein-
agle, Esq., R.A. by whose kindness I have also been favoured with the
following very full and interesting history and description of this curioua
work of art, in compliance with my request :

"17, Fitzroy Square, Dec. 2, 1834.

"Sir, — The painting was done on a species of black slaty marble — was
broken in two or three places. It was said by the Chev. Micheli, the pro-
prietor, who brought it from Florence to this country, that it had been
found in the recesses of a great wine cellar, where other fragments of anti-
quity had been deposited. That it was in a very thick case of wood nearly
mouldered away. That it got into a broker's hands, by the major domo
of the house or palace where it was discovered, having sold a parcel cf

40 or THE DEATF OF CLEOPATEA. [bOOK V.

is not excusable) the thing itself is questionable ; nor is it

insignificant lumber, so called, in which this painting was found. It
was generally incrusted with a sort of tartar and decomposed varnish,
which was cleared off by certain eminent chemists of Florence. Parts
of the colouring were scraped off and analysed by three or four persons.
Formal attestations were made by them before the constituted autho-
rities, and the documents had the stamps of authorized bodies and
signatures. The colours were found to be all mineral, and few in
number. The red was the synojna of Greece ; another laky red, put
over the red mantle Cleopatra wore, was of a nature not discovered ; —
it had the look of Venetian glazed red lake, of the crimson colour ; —
the white was a calx, but I forget of what nature ; — the yellow was of
the nature of Naples yellow — it seemed a vitrification ; there was also
yellow ochre ; — the black was charcoal. The green curtain was esteemed
terra verd of Greece, passed over with some unknown enriching yellow
colour. The hair was deep auburn colour, and might be mangenese ; —
the curls, elaborately made out, were finished hair by hair, with vivid
curved lines on the lighted parts, of the bright yellow golden colour.
The necklace consisted of various stones set in gold : the amulet was of
gold, and a chain twice or thrice round her right wrist. She wore a
crown with radiating points, and jewels between each ; — also a forehead
jewel, with a large pearl at the four comers, worn lozengeways on her
forehead ; part of her front hair was plaited, and two plaits where brought
round the neck, and tied in a knot of the hair ; — the red mantle was
fastened on both shoulders — no linen was seen. She held the a.sp in
her left hand : it was of a green colour, and rather large. Its head was
fanciful, and partook of the whims of sculptors, both ancient and
modern, resembling the knobhead and pouting mouth of the dolphin.
While writhing, it seems as if preparing to give a second bite ; two
minute indents of the fangs were imprinted on the inside of the left
lireast, and a drop or two of blood flowed. Cleopatra was looking up-
wards ; a shuddering expression from quivering lips, and heavy teara
falling down her cheeks, gave the countenance a singular effect ; her
right hand was falling from the wrist as if life were departing and con-
vulsion commencing. The composition of the figure was erect and
judiciously disposed for the confined space it was placed in. The pro-
portion of the picture was about two feet nine inches, and narrow, like
that sized canvass which artists in England call a kitcat. On decom-
posing the colours, the learned men of Florence and of Paris were fuUy
persuaded that it was an encaustic painting ; wax and resinous gum
were distinctly separated. The whole picture presented the strongest
signs of antiquity ; but whether it is a real antique, remains still a doubt
on many minds. It was attributed to Timomachus, an artist of great
eminence and a traveller, who lived at the court of Augustus Caesar.
He followed the encaustic style of Apelles, and with him died or faded
away that difficult art. The picture was painted (as is surmised) by
the above-named Greek artist, from memory (for he had seen Cleopatra
often), to supply her place in tt.e triumph of Augustus, when he cele-
brated his Egj'ptian victories «ver Anthony and Cleopatra. She, by

CHAP. XII.] OF THE DEATH OE CLEOPATEA, 41

indisputably certain what manner of death she died.^ Plu-
tarch, in the life of Anthony, plainly delivereth, that no man
knew the manner of her death ; for some aflirmed she
perished by poison, which she always carried in a little
hollow comb, and wore it in her hair. Beside, there were
never any asps discovered in the place of her death ; although
two of her maids perished also with her ; only it was said,
two small and almost insensible pricks were found upon her
arm ; which was all the ground that Caesar had to presume the
manner of her death. Galen, who was contemporary unto
Plutarch, delivereth two ways of her death ; that she killed
herself by the bite of an asp, or bit an hole in her arm and
poured poison therein. Strabo, that lived before them both,
hath also two opinions ; that she died by the bite of an asp,
or else a poisonous ointment.

We might question the length of the asps, which are some-

her desperate resolution, deprived him of the honour of exposing hex
person to the gaze of the Roman people. The picture was said to have
been taken, as a precious relic of art, by Constantine to Byzantium,
afterwards named Constantinople, and restored to Rome on the return
of his successors to the ancient seat of government. Among the very
many things in and relating to art, this picture was overlooked, and re-
mained in the deep dark recesses of the wine cellar. The Chevalier
Micheli carried it back to Italy, when he left England, about two years
ago. What has become of it since I know not.

"The title of the print is as follows : — ' Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.
The original, of which the present plate is a faithful representation, ia
the only known and hitherto discovered specimen of ancient Greek
painting. It has given rise to the most learned enquiries both in Italy
and France, and been universally admitted by cognoscenti, assisted by
actual analysis of the colours, to be an encaustic painting. The picture
is attributed to Timomachus, and supposed to have been painted by him
for his friend and patron, Augustus Csesar, 33 years before Christ, to
adorn the triumph that celebrated his Egyptian victories over Anthony
and Cleopatra, as a substitute for the beautiful original, of whom he
was disappointed by the heroic death she inflicted on herself. This
plate is dedicated to the virtuosi and lovers of refined art in the British
empire by the author, who is also the possessor of this inestimable relic
of Grecian art.'

" I remain your very obedient sei-vant.

*'To Mr. S. Wilkin. " R. R. Reinagle."

* the thing itself, (tc] The painters have however this justification,
that they follow authorities. " Casar, from the two small pricks pre-
sumed the manner of her death." Suetonius and Eutropius mention
one asp ; Horace, Virgil, Florus, and Propertius, two. — Rons and J(ff.

42 OF THE PICTURES OF THE NINE WOETHIES. [bOOK V.

times described exceeding short ; whereas the cherseea, or
land-asp, which most conceive she used, is above four cubits
long. Their number is not imquestionable ; for whereas
there are generally two described, Augustus (as Plutarch
relateth) did carry in his triumph the image of Cleopatra,
but with one asp unto her arm. As for the two pricks, or
little spots in her arm, they infer not their plurality ; for
like the viper the asp hath two teetli, whereby it left this
impression, or double puncture behind it.

And lastly, we might question the place ; for some apply
them laito her breast, which notwithstanding will not con-
sist with the history, and Petrus Victorius hath well observed
the same. But herein the mistake was easy, it being the
custom in capital malefactors to apply them unto the breast ;
as the author De Tlieriaca ad Pisonem, an eye-witness
hereof in Alexandria, where Cleopatra died, determineth ;
"I beheld," saith he, " in Alexandria, how suddenly these
serpents bereave a man of life ; for when any one is con-
demned to this kind of death, if they intend to use him
favovu'ably, that is, to despatch him suddenly, they fasten an
asp unto his breast, and bidding him walk about, he presently
perisheth thereby."

CHAPTEE XIII.

Of the Pictures of the Nine Worthies.

The pictures of the nine worthies ^ are not unquestion-
able, and to critical spectators may seem to contain sundry
improprieties. Some will enquire why Alexander the Great
is described upon an elephant : ^ for we do not find he used
that animal in his armies, much less in his own person ; but

' the nine ivorthies.'] Namely, Josliua, Gideon, Sampson, David,
Judas Maccabjeus, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne,
and Godfrey of Boulogne.

^ Some will enquire, tfrc] Ross suggests that " this picture hath
reference to that story of the elephant in Philostratus (lib. i. c. 61),
which from Alexander to Tiberius, lived three hundred and fifty years.
This huge elephant, Alexander, after he had overcome Porus, dedicated
to the sun, in these words, 'AXt^nj'^pof o Aioc tov Afarra rtp rfKiq) ;
for he gave to this elephant the name of Ajax, and the inhabitants so
honoured this beast, th» t they beset him round with garlands and rib-
bons.— Arcana, p. 160.

CUAP.XIII.] OF THE PICTURES OF THE NINE WORTHIES. 43

his horse is famous in history, and its name alive to this day.''
Beside, he fought but one remarkable battle wherein there
were any elephants, and that was with Porus, king of India,
in whicli notwithstanding, as Curtius, Arrianus, and Plu-
tarch report, he was on horseback himself. And if because
he fought against elephants he is with propriety set upon
their backs, with no less (or greater) reason is the same
description agreeable unto Judas Maccabeus, as may be
observed from the history of the Maccabees, and also unto
Julius Caesar, whose triumph was honoured with captive
elephants, as may be observed in the order thereof set forth
by Jacobus Laurus.* And if also we should admit this
description upon an elephant, yet were not the manner
thereof unquestionable, tlmt is, in his ruling the beast alone ;
for beside the champion upon their back, there was also a
guide or ruler which sat more forward to command or guide
the beast. Thus did King Porus ride when he was over-
thrown by Alexander ; and thus are also the towered ele-
phants described, Maccabees ii. 6. Upon the beasts ^ there
were strong towers of wood, which covered every one of
them, and were girt fast unto them by devices ; there were
also upon every one of them thirty-two strong men, beside
the Indian that ruled them.

Others will demand, not only why Alexander upon an
elephant, but Hector upon an horse ; whereas his manner of
fighting, or presenting himself in battle, was in a chariot,-

* In Splendor e Urhis Antiquw.

* hut Ms horse, Sc] There is an engraving of Alexander on Buce-
phalus, from an antique statue, without stirrups, in the Youth's Magazine,
for May, 1820.— /ef.

' upon the beasts.] Yf wee reckon but 3001b. weight for every man
and his armour and weapons (which is the lowest proportion), and
allowing for the tower and harnessing but 5 or 6001b. more, the
burthen of each elephant cannot be esteemed less than 10,1001b.
weight ; which is a thing almost incredible : for, 4,0001b. or 5,0001b.
is the greatest loade that 8 or 10 strong horses are usually put to
drawe. — Wr.

= chariot.] The use of chariots and (in warr) of iron, and in private
travayle of lighter substance is as olde as Jacob, as appeares Gen. xlv.
27. And in Gen. xiv. 7, the text sayes, that Pharoah had in hi.4
army 600 chosen chariots, besides all the chariots of ^gypt. Now the
former of these two storyes was 500 yeares before the Trojan war, and
the later 300.— m-.

44 or THE PICTURES OP THE NINE WOETHIES. [BOOK V.

as did the other noble Trojans, who, as Pliny affirmeth, were
the first inventors thereof. The same v^a.j of fight is testi-
fied by Diodorus, and thus delivered by Sir AValter Ealeigh :
" Of the vulgar, little reckoning was made, for they fought all
on foot, slightly armed, and commonly followed the success
of their captains, who rode not upon horses, but in chariots
drawn by two or three horses." And this was also the
ancient way of fight among the Britons, as is delivered by
Diodorus, Caesar, and Tacitus ; and there want not some
who have taken advantage hereof, and made it one argument
of their original from Troy.

Lastly, by any man versed in antiquit}', the question can
hardly be avoided, why the horses of these wortliies, espe-
cially of Csesar, are described with the furniture of great
saddles and stirrups ; for saddles, largely taken, though
some defence there may be, yet that they had not the use
of stirrups, seemeth of lesser doubt ; as Pancirollus hath
observed, as Polydore Virgil and Petrus Yictorius have eon-
firmed,* expressly discoursing hereon ; as is observable from
Pliny, and cannot escape our eyes in the ancient monuments,
medals, and triumphant arches of the Eomans. Nor is there
any ancient classical word in Latin to express them. For
sfaphia, stapes, or stapeda, is not to be foimd in authors of
this antiquity. And divers words which may be urged of
this signification, are either later, or signified not thus much
in the time of Caesar. And therefore, as Lipsius observeth,
lest a thing of common use should want a common word,
Pranciscus Philelphus named them stapedas, and Bodinus
Subiecus, pedanos. And vrhereas the name might promise
some antiquity, because among the three small bones in the
auditory organ, by physicians termed incus, malleus and
stapes, one thereof from some resemblance doth bear this
name; these bones were not observed, much less named by
Hippocrates, Galen, or any ancient physician. But as Lau-
rentius observeth, concerning the invention of the stapes or
stirrup-bone, there is some contention between Columbus
and Ingrassias ; the one of Sicilia, the other of Cremona,
and both within the compass of this centiu-y.

The same is also deducible from very approved authors.

* De Tnventione Rerum, Varice Lectiones.

CHi-P. XIII.] OF THE PICTUKES OF THE NIISE WOBTHIES. 45

Polybius, speaking of the way which Annibal marched into
Italy, useth the word /3£/3/?juart<7rrti, that is, saith Petrus Vic-
torius, it was stored with devices for men to get upon their
horses, which assents were termed hemata, and in the life of
Caius Gracchus, Plutarch expresseth as much. Por endea-
vouring to ingratiate himself with the people, besides the
placing of stones at every mile's end, he made at nearer
distances certain elevated places and scalary ascents, that by
the help thereof they might with better ease ascend or
mount their horses. Now if we demand how cavaliers, then
destitute of stirrups, did usually mount their horses, as Lip-
sius informeth, the unable and softer sort of men had their
dj'a/3ox£«c, or stratores, which helped them upon horseback,
as in the practice of Crassus, in Plutarch, and Caracalla, in
Spartianus, and the later example of Valentinianus, who
because his horse rose before, that he could not be settled
on his back, cut of the right hand of his strator. But how
the active and hardy persons mounted, Vegetius * resolves
us, that they used to vault or leap up, and therefore they
had wooden horses in their houses and abroad, that thereby
young men might enable themselves in this action ; wherein
by instruction and practice they grew so perfect, that they
could vault up on the right or left, and that with their
sword in hand, according to that of Virgil, —

Poscit equos atque arina simul, sultiique superbus
Emicat.

And again, —

Infi-senant alii curnis, et corpora saltu
Injiciunt in equos.

So Julius Pollux adviseth to teach horses to incline, dimit,
and bow down their bodies, that their riders may with better
ease ascend them. And thus may it more causally be made
out what Hippocrates affirmeth of the Scythians, that using
continual riding they were generally molested with the
sciatica or hip gout. Or what Suetonius delivereth of Ger-
manicus, that he had slender legs, but increased them by
riding after meals ; that is, the humours descending upon

* De re Milit.

46 OF THE PICTURES OF THE NI>'E "WOETHIES. [BOOK V.

their peudulosity, they having uo support or suppedaueoua
stability.^

Now if any shall say that these are petty errors and minor
lapses, not considerably injurious unto truth, yet is it neither
reasonable nor safe to contemn inferior falsities, but rather aa
between falsehood and truth there is uo medium, so shoidd
they be maintained in their distances ; nor the contagion of
the one approach the sincerity of the other.

3 Or what Suetonius, <frc.] Hippocrates observes, that the Scythians,
who were much on horseback, were troubled with defluxions and
swellings in their legs, occasioned by their dependent posture, and the
want of something to sustain their feet. Had stirrups been known, this
inconvenience could not have been urged, and on this fact, together with
other arguments, Berenger much relies in his opinion that stirrups were
not known to the ancients. See his Histoi-y and Art of Horsemanship,
2 vols. 4to. Montfaucon attributes this ignorance to the absence of
saddles, and to the impossibility of attaching stirrups to the horse-
cloths, or ephippia, which were anciently used for saddles.

Beckman, in his chapter on stirrups {History of Inventions and Dis-
coveries, vol. ii. 270), among other authorities, refers to the present
chapter in the French translation. Nothing, he says, resembling
stirnips, remains in ancient works of art or coins. Xenophon, in his
chapter on horsemanship, makes no mention of them. Stone mount-
ing-steps, he observes, were not only used among the Romans, but are
still to be found even in England. Victorious generals used to compel
the vanquished even of the highest rank, to stoop that they might mount
by stepping on their backs. He mentions some spurious inscriptions
and coins which exhibit the stirrup. He names Mauritius as the first
writer who has expressly mentioned it, in the sixth century, and from
Eustathius it appears that even in the 12th century, the use of stirrups
had not become common.

" Abdallah's friend found him with his foot in the stirrup, just
mounting his camel." Sale's Koran, Prelim. Disc. p. 29. Abdallah
lived in the sixth century. — J(jf'.

" Stirops. From the old English astige or stighe, to ascend or mount
up, and ropes ; being first devised with cords or ropes, before they were
made with leather and iron fastened to it." Verstegan, p. 209. "To
have styed up from the very centre of the earth." Bishop Hall's Con-
templations on the Ascension, vol. ii. p. 285. Hinc Stigh-rcpes. — Jeff.

According to Sir John Carr's '' Caledonian Sketches," n his account
of a male equipage, that island is not yet "a land :f bridles and
•addles."— i/o. Eev. Sep. 1809.— Jeff.

CHAP. XIV.] JEPHTHAH 8ACEIFICING HIS DAUGHTEK. 47

CHAPTEE XIV.

Of tlve, Picture ofJephthah Sacrificing his Daughter.

The hand of the painter confidently setteth forth the
picture of Jephthah in the posture of Abraham, sacrificing
his only daughter. Thus is it commonly received, and hath
had the attest of many worthy writers. Notwithstanding,
upon enquiry we find the matter doubtful, and many upon
probable grounds to have been of another opinion ; conceiv-
ing in this oblation not a natural but a civil kind of death,
and a separation only unto the Lord. For that he pursued
not his vow imto a literal oblation, there want not arguments
both from the text and reason.'*

For first, it is evident that she deplored her virginity, and
not her death : " Let me go up and down the mountains and
bewail my virginity, I and my fellows."

Secondly, when it is said, that Jephthah did unto her
according unto his vow, it is immediately subjoined, et non

* For that he pursued not, d-c] The observations of Dr. Adam
Clarke on this very interesting question, are so spirited and satisfactory,
that I must insert them. Judg. xi. 31. — "The translation of which,
according to the most accurate Hebrew scholars, is this — ■' I will conse-
crate it to the Lord ; OR, I will offer it for a burnt-offering :' that is,
* if it be a thing fit for a hurnt-offerlng , it shall be made one : if fit /or
the service of God, it shall be consecrated to him.' That conditions of
this kind must have been implied in the vow is evident enough ; to have
been made without them it must have been the vow of a heathen or a
madman. li a, dog had met him, this could not have been made a
burnt-offering: and if his neighbour's or friend's wi/e, so«, or daughter,
&c. had been returning from a visit to his family, his vow gave him no
right over them. Besides, human sacrifices were ever an abomination
to the Lord ; and this was one of the grand reasons why God drave out
the Canaanites, &c. because they offered their sons and daughters to
Moloch, in the fire ; i. e. made burnt-offerings of them, as is generally
supposed. That Jephthah was a deeply pious man, appears in the
whole of his conduct ; and that he was well acquainted with the law of
Moses, — which prohibited such sacrifices, and stated what was to be
offered in sacrifice, — is evident enough from his expostulation with the
king and people of Amnion, verse 14 to 27. Therefore it must be
granted that he never made that rash vow which several suppose he did ;
nor was he capable, if he had, of executing it in that most shocking
manner which some Christian writers (tell it not in Gath) have con-
tended for. He could not commit a crime which himself had just now
been an executor of God's justice to punish in others."

48 JEPHTHAH ?i.CRIFIClNG HIS DAUGHTEE. [bOOK T.

cognovit virum, and she knew no man ; which, as immediate
in words, was probably most near in sense unto the vow.

Thirdly, it is said in the text, that the daughters of Israel
^Jrent yearly to talk with the daughter of Jephthah four days
in the year; which had she been sacrificed they could not have
done : for whereas the word is sometime translated to lament,
yet doth it also signify to talk or have conference with one,
and by Tremellius, who was well able to judge of the original,
it is in this sense translated : Ibantjilics Israelitarum, ad con-
fahulandmn cum filia Jeptlitliaci, q^uatuor diehus quotannis :
and so it is also set down in the marginal notes of our trans-
lation. And from this annual concourse of the daughters of
Israel, it is not improbable in future ages the daughter of
Jephthah came to be worshipped as a deity, and had by
the Samaritans an annual festivity observed unto her ho-
noiu", as Epiphanius hath lefl recorded in the heresy of the
Melchisedecians.

It is also repugnant unto reason ; for the offering of man-
kind was against the law of Grod, who so abhorred human
sacrifice, that he admitted not the oblation of unclean beasts,
and confined his altars but unto few kinds of animals, the ox,
the goat, the sheep, the pigeon, and its kinds. In the cleans-
ing of the leper, there is, I confess, mention made of the
sparrow ; but great dispute may be made whether it be pro-
perly rendered. And therefore the Scripture with indigna-
tion ofttimes makes mention of human sacrifice among the
Gentiles ; whose oblations scarce made scruple of any ani-
mal, sacrificing not only man, but horses, lions, eagles ; and
though they come not into holocausts, yet do we read the
Syrians did make oblations of fishes imto the goddess Der-
ceto. It being therefore a sacrifice so abominable unto Grod,
although he had pursued it, it is not probable the priests and
wisdom of Israel would have permitted it ; and that not only
in regard of the subject or sacrifice itself, but also the sacri-
ficator, which the picture makes to be Jephthah, who was
neither priest, nor capable of that ofiice ; for he was a
GrUeadite, and as the text affirmeth, the son also of an harlot.
And how hardly the priesthood would endrn-e encroachment
upon their function, a notable example there is in the story
of Ozias.

Secondly, the offering up of his daughter was not only

CHAP. XIY.] JEPHTHAK SACEinCING HIS DATJGHTEE. 49

unlawful and entrenched upon his religion, but had been
a course that had much condemned his discretion ; that is,
to have punished himself in the strictest observance of his
vow, when as the law of God had allowed an evasion ; that
is, by way of commutation or redemption, according as is
determined, Levit. xxvii. AVhereby if she were between
the age of five and twenty, she was to be estimated but at
ten shekels, and if between twenty and sixty, not above
thirty. A sum that could never discourage an indulgent
parent ; it being but the value of a servant slain ; the incon-
siderable salary of Judas ; and will make no greater noise
than three pounds fifteen shillings with us. And therefore
their conceit is not to be exploded, who say that from the
story of Jephthah's sacrificing his own daughter, might
spring the fable of Agamemnon, delivering unto sacrifice
his daughter Iphigenia, who was also contemporary unto
Jephthah ; wherein to answer the ground that hinted it,
Iphigenia was not sacrificed herself, but redeemed with an
hart, which Diana accepted for her.^

Lastly, although his vow run generally for the words,
"Whatsoever shall come forth, &c.," yet might it be re-
strained in the sense, for whatsoever was sacrificeable and
justly subject to lawl'ul immolation ; and so would not have
sacrificed either horse or dog, if they had come out upon
him. Nor was he obliged by oath unto a strict observation
of that which promissorily was unlawful ; or coidd he be
qualified by vow to commit a fact which naturally was abo-
minable. Which doctrine had Herod understood, it might
have saved John Baptist's head, when he promised by
oath to give unto Herodias whatsoever she would ask ;
that is, if it were in the compass of things which he could
lawfully grant. For his oath made not that lawfid which
was illegal before ; and if it were unjust to murder John,
the supervenient oath did not extenuate the fact, or oblige
the juror imto it"

Now the ground at least which much promoted the
opinion, might be the dubious words of the text, which
contain the sense of his vow ; most men adhering unto

* Iphigenia, <fcc.] So the son of Idomeneus, on whose fate there jj
an interesting scene in Fcndon's Telcmackus, book v. — Jeff.
^ Lastly, although his vow, d-c] First added in 2nd edition.
TOL. II. E

50 OF JOHN THE BAPTIST IN A CAMEL's SKIN. [bOOK T.

their common and obvious acception. " "Whatsoever shall
come forth of the doors of my house, shall surely be the
Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering." K'ow
whereas it is said, Erit Jehovce, et offeram illud Iwlocaustum,
the word signifpng both et and aut, it may be taken dis-
junctively ; aut offeram, that is, it shall either be the Lord's
by separation, or else, an holocaust by common oblation ;
even as our marginal translation advertiseth, and as Tre-
mellius rendereth it, Erit inqiiam Jehovce, aut offeram illud
Iwlocaustum. And, for the vulgar translation, it useth often
et where aut must be presumed, as Exod. xxi. ; Si quis
percusserit fatrem et matrem, that is, not both, but either.
There being therefore two ways to dispose of her, either to
separate her unto the Lord, or offer her as a sacrifice, it is
of no necessity the latter sliould be necessary ; and surely
less derogatory unto the sacred text and history of the
people of God must be the former.

CHAPTER XV.

Of the Picture of John the Baptint in a Camel's SHn.

The picture of John the Baptist in a camel's skin is very
questionable/ and many I perceive have condemned it.

' in a camel's skin, d-c.'] Eoss, as usual, supports the opinion which
Browne attacks. " It was fit the Baptist, who came to preach re-
pentance for sin, should wear a garment of skins, which was the first
clothes that Adam wore after he had sinned ; for his fig-leaves were not
proper, and this garment also showed both his poverty and humility.
For as great men wear rich skins and costly furs, he was contented with
a camel's skin. By this garment also he shows himself to be another
Elijah (2 Kings i.), who did wear such a garment, and to be one of those
of whom the apostle speaks, who went about in skins, of whom the
world was not worthy. Neither was it unuseful in John's time, and
before, to wear skins ; for the prophets among the Jews, the philoso-
phers among the Indians, and generally the Scythians did wear skins ;
hence by Claudian they are c&Wedi 'pellita juvenilis. Great commanders
also used to wear them ; as Hercules the lion's skin, Acestes the
bear's, Camilla the tiger's. John's garment, then, of camel's hair, was
not, as some fondly conceit, a sackcloth or camblet, but a skin with the
Ijiir on it."

ThU is quaint and lively enough ; but the most competent autho-

CHAP. XV.] OF JOHN THE BAPTIST IN A CAMEl's SKIN. 51

The ground or occasion of this description are the words of
the Holy Scripture, especially of Matthew and Mark
(for Luke and John are silent herein) ; by them it is deli-
vered, " his garment was of camel' s hair, and he had a
leather girdle about his loins." Now here it seems the
camel's hair is taken by painters for the skin or pelt with
the hair upon it. But this exposition wiU not so well con-
sist with the strict acception of the words ; for Mark i., it
is said, he was, ey^eSvfxeyog rpiycLQ Kafxr]\ov, and Mat-
thew iii., £t)(£ TO ivZvjia ciTTo TpL-y^uJi' KafiijXov, that is, as the
vulgar translation, that of Beza, that of Sixtus Quintus,
und Clement the Eighth, hath rendered it, vestimentum
habebat e pills eamelinis ; which is, as ours translateth it,
a garment of camel's hair ; that is, made of some texture of
that hair, a coarse garment, a ciHcious or sackcloth habit,
suitable to the austerity of his life, — the severity of his doc-
trine, repentance, — and the place thereof, the wilderness, —
his food and diet, locusts and wild honey.* Agreeable unto
the example of Elias,* who is said to be vir pilosus, that is,
as Tremellius interprets. Teste villosd cinctus, answerable
unto the habit of the ancient prophets, according to that of
Zaehary : " In that day the prophets shall be ashamed,
neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive ;"t and
suitable to the cilicious and hairy vests of the strictest orders
of friars, who derive the institution of their monastic life
from the example of John and Elias.

As for the wearing of skins, where that is properly in-
tended, the expression of the Scripture is plain ; so is it
said, Heb.xi., they wandered about h alysioig ci'p/xao-tj', that
is, in goat's skins ; and so it is said of our first parents.
Gen. iii.. That God made them -x^inLvae cipnaTirovg, vestes
pelliceas, or coats of skins ;" which though a natural habit
unto all, before the invention of texture, was something
more unto Adam, who had newly learned to die ; for xiuto
him a garment from the dead was but a dictate of death, and
an habit of mortality.

* 2 Kings iii. 18. t Zach. xiii.

rities agree with our author in supposing John's garment to have been
made of a coarse sort of camel's hair camblet, or stuff: and Harmerhaa
given several instances of such an article being worn.
" his food, cfcc] See book vii. ch. ix.
e2

52 or THE PICTURE OE ST. CHEISTOPnEE. [bOOK V.

Now if any man will say this habit of John was neither
of camel's skin, nor any coarse texture of its hair, but rather
some finer weave of camelot, grograin, or the like, inasmuch
as these stuffs are supposed to be made of the hair of that
animal, or because that ^lian affirmeth tliat camel's hair of
Persia is as fine as Milesian wool, wherewith the great ones
of that place were clothed ; they have discovered an habit
not only unsuitable unto his leathern cincture, and the
coarseness of his life, but not consistent with the words of
our Saviour, when reasoning with the people concerning
John, he saith, " What went you out into the wilderness to
see ? A man clothed in soft raiment ? Behold, they that
wear soft raiment, are in king's houses."

CHAPTEE XVI.

Of the Picture of St. Christopher.

The picture of St. Christopher, that is, a man of a giant-
like stature, bearing upon his shoulders om* Saviour Christ,
and with a staft" in his hand, wading through the water, is
known unto children, common over all Europe, not only as
a sign unto houses, but is described in many churches,^
and stands Colossus-like in the entrance of Notre Dame in
Paris.i

Now from hence common eyes conceive an history suit-
able unto this description, that he carried our Saviour in his
minority over some river of water ; which notwithstanding
we cannot at all make out. For we read not thus much in
any good author, nor of any remarkable Christopher, before
the reign of Decius, who lived two hundred and fifty years
after Clu-ist. This man indeed, according unto history, suf-
fered as a martyr in the second year of that emperor, and
in the lioman calendar takes up the 21st of July.

^ is known unto children, &c.'] This gigantic saint is not so general an
acquaintance in our nurseries, &c. as he seems to have been in days of
yore. An amusing account of one of the ecclesiastical figures of him,
just as here described, may be found in the Gcnt.'s Mar;, for Oct. 1803.

' Notre Dame.] Also in the cathedral of Christ's Church, Canter-
bury.—/e/.

CHAJ. XVI,] or THE PICTUEB OF ST, CHBISTOPHEE, 53

The ground fcliat begat or promoted this opinion, was first
the fabulous adjections of succeeding ages unto the veritable
acts of this martyr, who in the most probable accoimts was
remarkable for his staff", and a man of a goodly stature.

Tlie second might be a mistake or misapprehension of the
picture, most men conceiving that an history, which was con-
trived at first but as an emblem or symbolical fancy ; as from
the annotations of Baronius upon the Eoman martyrology,
Lipellous,* in the life of St. Christopher, hath observed in
these words : Acta S. Christopheri a multis depravata inve-
niuntur : quod quidem noil aliunde originem sumpsisse cer-
ium est, quam quod symholicas figuras imperiti ad veritatem
successu temporis transtiderint : itaque cuncta ilia de Sancto
Christophero pingi consueta, sgmhola potius quam Mstoricd
alicujus eccistimandum est esse expressam imaginem ; that is,
" the acts of St. Christopher are depraved by many : which
surely began from no other groiuid than that in process of
time unskilful men translated symbolical figiu'es unto real
verities : and therefore what is usually described in the pic-
ture of St. Christopher, is rather to be received as an emblem,
or symbolical description, than any real histoiy." Now what
emblem this was, or what its signification, conjectures are
many ; Pierius hath set down one, that is, of the disciple of
Christ ; for he that will carry Christ upon his shoulders, must
rely upon the staff" of his direction, whereon if he firmeth
himself he may be able to overcome the billows of resistance,
and in the virtue of this staff", like that of Jacob, pass over
the waters of Jordan, Or otherwise thus : he that will sub-
mit his shoulders unto Christ, shall by the concurrence of
his power increase into the strength of a giant ; and being
supported by the staff" of his Holy Spirit, shall not be over-
whelmed by the waves of the world, but wade through all
resistance.

Add also the' mystical reasons of this portrait alleged by
Vida and Xerisanus ; and tlie recorded story of Christo-
pher, that before his martyrdom he requested of Cod, that
wherever his body were, the places should be freed from
pestilence and mischiefs, from infection. And therefore his
picture or portrait was usually placed in public ways, and at

* Lip. De Vitis Sanctorum.

54 OF THE PTCTUEE OP ST. GEOEGE, [bOOK V.

the entrance of towns and churches, according to the received
distich :2 *

Christophorum videas, postea tutus eris.

CHAPTEE XVII.

Of the Picture of St. George,

The picture of St. George killing the dragon, and as most
ancient draughts do run, with the daughter of a king stand-
ing by, is famous amongst Christians. And upon this de-
scription dependeth a solemn story, how by this achieve-
ment he redeemed a king's daughter : which is more
especially believed by the English, whose protector he is ;
and in which form and history, according to his description'
in the English college at Eome, he is set forth in the icons
or cuts of martyrs by Cevalerius, and aU this according to
the Historia Lombardica, or golden legend of Jacobus de
Voragine.3 Now of what authority soever this piece be
amongst us, it is I perceive received with different beliefs :
for some believe the person and the story ; some the person,
but not the story ; and others deny both.'*

* Anton. Castellionm Antiquitates Mediolanenses

^ Add also the mystical, etc.] First added in 3rd edition,

^ and all this, <i-c.] First added in 2nd edition.

* soTne believe the person, tfcc] Dr. Pettingal published a dissertation
to prove both the person and the story to be fabulous, and the device of
the order to be merely emblematical : and Dr. Byron wrote an essay (in
verse) to prove that St. Gregory the Great, and not St. George, was the
guardian saint of England. Against these two, and other writers on
the same side. Dr. S. Pegge drew up a paper which appeared in the 5th
vol. oi the Archoiologia : vindicating the honor of the patron saint of
these realms, and of that society ; asserting that he was a Christian saint
and martyr — George of Cappadocia ; and distinct from the Arian bishop
George of Alexandria, with whom Dr. Reynolds had identified him.
In this paper Dr. Pegge has not mentioned the present chapter, which
in all probability only attracted his notice some years after. — In hi3
(posthumous work called) Anonymiana, No. 54, he says, that " the
substance of Pettingal's dissertation on the original of the equestrian
figure of St. George (which the learned author supposes to be all
emblematical) and of the Garter, may be found in Browyie's Vulgar
Errors."

Browne, however, it must be observed, is of the same opinion as Dr.

:;nAP, XVII.] OF THE PICTURE OE ST. GEOBGE. 55

That such a person there was, we shall not contend : for
besides others, Dr. Heylin hath clearly asserted it in his
History of St. George. The indistinction of many in the
community of name, or the misapplication of the acts of one
unto another, hath made some doubt thereof. Eor of this
name we meet with more than one m history, and no less than
two conceived of Cappadocia. The one an Ai'ian, who was
slain by the Alexandrians in the time of Julian ; the other a
valiant soldier and Christian martyr, beheaded in the reign of
Dioclesian. This is the George conceived in this picture,
who hath his day in the Roman calendar, on whom so many
fables are delivered, whose story is set forth by Metaphrastes,
and his miracles by Turonensis.

As for the story depending hereon, some conceive as
lightly thereof, as of that of Perseus and Andromeda, con-
jecturing the one to be the father of the other ; and some too
highly assert it. Others with better moderation, do either
entertain the same as a fabulous addition unto the true and
authentic story of St. George,^ or else, we conceive the literal
acception to be a misconstruction of the symbolical expres-
sion ; apprehending a veritable history, in an emblem or
piece of Christian poesy. And this emblematical construc-
tion hath been received by men not forward to extenuate

Pegge as to the reality of St. George, his identity with George of Cap-
padocia, and his distinctness from the Arian bishop. All these parties
are agreed in declining assent to the dragon part of the story.

It is very probable that Sir Thomas was led partly by his residence at
Norwich, to investigate the story of St. George, who is a personage of
no small importance there. Pegge mentions the guild of St. George in
that city (in his paper in the Archoeologia), but he was probably not
aware that there has been from time immemorial, on ["Lord] Mayor's
Day" at Norwich, an annual pageant, the sole remnant of St. George's
guild, in which an immense dragon, horrible to view, with hydra head,
and gaping jaws and winga, and scales bedecked in gold and green, is
carried about by a luckless wight, whose task it is, the live-long-day, by
string and pulley from within, to ope and shut the monster's jaws, by
way of levying contributions on the gaping multitude, especially of
youthful gazers, with whom it is matter of half terror, half joy, to pop a
half-penny into the opened mouth of snap (so is he called), whose bow
of thanks, with long and forked tail high waved in air, acknowledges
the gift. Throughout the rest of the year, fell Snap lives on the forage
of that memorable day : quietly reposing in the hall of his conqueror'a
sainted brother, St. Andrew, where the civic fc'iSt 's held.

^ soViC conceive, tfcc] First added in 2nd editioL

56 OF THE PICTUEE OF JEEOME. [bOOK V

tbe acts of saints : as, from Baronius, Lipellous tlie Car-
thusian hath delivered in tlie life of St. G-earge ; Piduram
illam St. Georgii qua effingitur eqioes armatus, qui liastce
cusplde hostem interjicit, juocta quern etiani virgo posita manus
supplices tendens ejus explorat auxilmm, symboli potius quam
JiistoricB alicujus censenda expressa imago. Consiievit quidem
ut equestris miUtice miles equestri imagine referri. That is,
the picture of St. George, wherein he is described like a
cuirassier or horseman completely armed, &c. is rather a
symbolical image, than any proper figure.^

Now in the picture of this saint and soldier, might be
implied the Christian soldier, and true champion of Christ :
A horseman armed cap a pie, intimating tlie jmnojjlia or com-
plete armour of a Christian combating with the dragon, that
is, with the devil, in defence of the king's daughter, that is,
the Church of God.^ And therefore although the history be
not made out, it doth not disparage the knights and noble
order of St. George : whose cognisance is honourable in the
emblem of the soldier of Christ, and is a worthy memorial to
conform unto its mystery. Nor, were there no such person
at all, had they more reason to be ashamed, than the noble
order of Burgundy, and knights of the golden fleece ; whose
badge is a confessed fable.^

CHAPTEE XYIII.

Of the Picture of Jerome.

The picture of Jerome usually described at his study, with
a clock hanging by, is not to be omitted ; for though the mean-
ing be allowable, and probable it is that industrious father
did not let slip his time without account, yet must not

® the picture, <kc.'\ First added in 2nd edition.

' Church of God.'\ Or rather the soule, for soe in the picture and
story shee is called [psjichcl that is the soul of man, which in a specificaU
sense is endeed every Christian soule, and comprehensively may signifye,
the Church of God. — Wr.

* fable.] Borowed from that old storye of the Argo-nauts, or Argo-
knights, as wee may call them, though the golden fleece be a meer
tomance. — Wr.

CHAP. XTIII.] OF THE PICTUEE OF JEllOME. 57

perhaps that clock he set do^vn to have been his measure
thereof. For clocks^ or automatons organs, whereby we
now distinguish of time, have found no mention in any
ancient writers, but are of late invention, as PanciroUus ob-
serveth. And Polydore Virgil, discoursing of new inventions
whereof the authors are not known, makes instance in clocks
and guns. JSTow Jerome is no late writer, but one of the
ancient fathers, and lived in the fourth century, in the reign
of Theodosius the first.

It is not to be denied that before the days of Jerome there
were horologies, and several accounts of time ; for they mea-
sured the hoiu's not only by drops of water in glasses called
clepsydra, but also by sand in glasses called clepsammia.
There were also from great antiquity, scioterical or sun-dials,
by the shadow of a stile or cjnomon denoting the hours of
the day ; an invention ascribed nnto Anaximenes by Pliny.
Hereof a memorable one there was in Campus Martins, from
an obeUsk erected, and golden figures placed horizontally
about it ; which was brought out of Egypt by Augustus, and
described by Jacobus Laurus.* And another of great an-
tiquity we meet with in the story of Ezechias ; for so it is
delivered in 2 Kings, xx. : " That the Lord brought the
shadow backward ten degrees by which it had gone down
in the dial of Ahaz." That is, say some, ten degrees, not
lines ; for the hours were denoted by certain di^^sions or
steps in the dial, which others distinguished by lines, accord-
ing to that of Persius, —

Stertimus indomitum quod despumare Falemum
Sufficiat, quints dum linea tangitur umbra.

That is, the line next the meridian, or within an hour of
noon.

* A peculiar description and particular construction hereof out of
R. Chomer, is set down, Curios, de Caffarel. chap. ix.

* clochs.'] The ancient pictures of St. Hierom were naked, on his
knees, in a cave, with an hour-glasse and a scull by him, intimating his
indefatigable continuance in prayers and studye while hee lived in the
cave at Bethleem. But the later painters at Rome, bycause hee had
been senator and of a noble familye, picture him in the habit of the car-
dinals, leaning on his arm at a desk in study with a clock hanging by
him, and his finger on a scull : and this they take to bee a more proper
eymbol f ? she cardinal eminencye. — Wr.

68 OF THE PICTUEE OF JEEOHE. [bOOK V.

Of later years there succeeded new inventions, and horo-
logies composed by trochilick or the artifice of wheels ;
whereof some are kept in motion by weight, others perform
without it. Now as one age instructs another, and time,
that brings all things to ruin, perfects also every thing ; so
are these indeed of more general and ready use than any
that went before them. By the water-glasses the account
was not regular ; for from attenuation and condensation,
whereby that element is altered, the hours were shorter in
hot weather than in cold, and in summer than in winter.
As for scioterical dials, whether of the sun or moon, they
are only of use in the actual radiation of those luminaries,
and are of little advantage unto those inhabitants, which for
many months enjoy not the lustre of the sun.

It is, I confess, no easy wonder how the horometry of
antiquity discovered not this artifice, how Architas, that
contrived the moving dove, or rather the helicosophy of
Archimides, fell not upon this way. Surely as in many
things, so in this particular, the present age hath far sur-
passed antiquity ; whose ingenuity hath been so bold not only
to proceed below the account of minutes, but to attempt
perpetual motions ; ^ and engines whose revolutions (could
their substance answer the design) might out-last the exem-
plary mobility, and out-measure time itself. For such a
one is that mentioned by John Dee, whose words are these,
in his learned preface unto Euclid: "By wheels, strange
works and incredible are done : a wondrous example was
seen in my time in a certain instrmnent, which, by the in-
ventor and artificer was sold for twenty talents of gold ; and
then by chance had received some injury, and one Janellus
of Cremona did mend the same, and presented it unto the
emperor Charles the Fifth. Jeronymous Cardanus can be
my witness, that therein was one wheel that moved at such
a rate, that in seven thousand years only his own period
should be finished ; a thing almost incredible, but how far I
keep within my bounds many men yet alive can tell."

' perpetual motions.] John Romilly, a celebrated watchmaker, bom
Bt Geneva, wrote a letter on the impossibility of perpetual mo-
tion.— Jeff.

CHAP. XIX.] OP MERMAIDS, UNICOENS, AND OTHERS. 59

CHAPTEE XIX.

Of the Pictures of Mei~maids, Unicoriis, and some others.

Few eyes have escaped the pictures qf mermaids ; ^ that
is, according to Horace's monster, -n-ith a woman's head

' mermaids.] The existence of mermaids has been so generally ridi-
culed, and high authorities have so repeatedly denounced as forgeries,
delusions, or travellers' wonders, the detailed narratives and exhibited
specimens of these sea-nymphs, that it must be a Quixotic venture to
say a word in their defence. Yet am I not disposed to give up their
cause as altogether hopeless. I cannot admit the probability of a belief
in them having existed from such remote antiquity, and spread so
widely, without some foundation in truth. Nor can I consent to reject
en masse such a host of delightfully pleasant stories as I find recorded of
these daughters of the sea (as Illiger call the Dugongs), merely because it
is the fashion to decry them, I must be allowed, then, to hold my
opinion in abeyance for further evidence. Unconvinced even by Sir
Humphry Davy's grave arguments to prove that such things cannot
be, and undismayed by his asserted detection of the apes and salmon in
poor Dr. Philip's "undoubted original," I persist in expecting one day
to have the pleasure of beholding — A Mermaid !

But what is a mermaid? Aye, there is the very gist of the question.

Cicero little dreamt of his classical rule being degraded by application
to such a discussion as the present ; but I shall nevertheless endeavour
to avail myself of his maxim ; — Omnis disputatio debet a deflnitione pro-
Jicisci. What is a mermaid ? Not the fair lady of the ocean, admiring
herself in a hand-mirror, and bewitching the listener by her song ; — not
the triton, dwelling in the ocean-cave, and sounding his conch-like cor-
net or trumpet ; — not the bishop-frocked creature of Rondeletius ; nor
Aldrovandus' mer-devil, with his horns and face of fury ; nor the howl-
ing and tempest-stirring monsters of Olaus Magnus — not, in short, the
creature of poetry or fiction : but a most supposable, and probably often
seen, though hitherto undescribed, species of the herbivorous cetacea (the
seals and lamantins), more approaching, in several respects, the human
configuration, than any species we know.

Let us hear and examine Sir Humphry's arguments against the pro-
bability of such a discovery. He says, that "a human head, human
hands, and human mammae, are wholly inconsistent with & fish's tail."
In one sense this is undeniable ; — viz. — since homo sapiens is (begging
Lord Monboddo's pardon) an incaudate animal, — it follows that the
head, hands, and mammce of any creature furnished also with a tail,
could not be human : and so, conversely, the tail of such a creature
could not be a fish's tail. But this is a truism, only to be paralleled by
the exclamation attributed by Peter Pindar to Sir Joseph Banks, when
he had boiled the fleas and found they did not turn red, — " Fleas aro
not lobsters I &c." Davy's was not a nominal objection, a mere play upon

60 OF MERMAIDS, UNICORNS, AND OTHERS. [eoOK V.

above, and fishy extremity below ; and these are conceived
to answer the shape of the ancient sirens that attempted

words : he goes on to say, " the human head is adapted for an erect
posture, and in such a posture an animal with a fish's tail could not
swim." The head of our mermaid, however, may more strongly resemble
the human head, than any described animal of its tribe, and yet preserve
at the same time the power which they all have, of raising the head per-
pendicularly out of the water while swimming, as Sir Humphry himself
probably did, when he was mistaken by the fair ladies of Caithness for
a mermaid ! Cuvier remarks, moreover, that the tails of these herbi-
vorous cetacea dififer from those of fish in their greater adaptation to
maintain an erect posture. Sir Humphry proceeds — " A creature with
lungs must be on the surface several times in a day ; and the sea is an
inconvenient breathing place !' ' I must take the liberty of confronting
this most singular observation with a much greater authority. Cuvier
says (and surely Sir Humphry must have for the moment forgotten),
that the cetacea, though constantly residing in the sea, " as they respire
by lungs, are obliged to rise frequently to the surface to take in fresh
supplies of air." What is to be said of a naturalist who argues against
the possibility of any creature provided with lungs residing in the sea,
in the face of so important an example of the fact as we have in the
entire class of cetacea ? What would Cuvier, with all his readiness to
do homage to genius in any man, and especially in so splendid an
instance as Davy, what must he have thought, had he read his pre-
ceding remarks ? Magnus aliquando dormitat Homerus I

It is the more remarkable, as Sir Humphry actually mentions some
species of this very tribe as having probably given rise to some of the
stories about mermaids. And as to mammce and hands, to which he also
objects if in company with the fish's tail, we must here again have
recourse to the protection of Cuvier against our mighty assailant.
"The first family" (herbivorous cetacea), says Cuvier, "frequently
emerge from the water to seek for pasture on the shore. They have two
mammae on the breast, and hairs like mustachios, two circumstances
which, when they raise the anterior part of the body above water,
give them some resemblance to men and women, and have probably
occasioned those fables of the ancients concerning Tritons and Syrens.
Vestiges of claws may be discovered on the edges of their fins, which
they use with dexterity in creeping, and carrying their little ones. Tliis
has given rise to a comparison of these organs with hands, and hence
these animals have been called manatis" (or lamantins).

Thus I have sketched the sort of creature which may be supposed to
exist : nor can I deem it unreasonable to expect such a discovery,
though Davy, after saying, "It doubtless might please God to make a
mermaid ; but I do not believe God ever did make one : " — somewhat
arrogantly pronounces that "such an animal, if created, could not long
exist, and, with scarce any locomotive powers, would be the prey of
other fishes formed in a manner more suited to their element."

It is singular that a writer in the Enc. Metropolitaua should have con

CHAP. XIX.] OF MERMAIDS, UNICOKxtS, AND OTHERS. 61

upon Ulysses. Whicli notwithstancfing were of another de-
scription, containing no fishy composure, but made up of
man and bird : the himian mediety variously placed not only
above, but below, according unto vElian, Suidas, Servius,
Boccatius, and Aldrovandus, who hath referred their descrip-
tion unto the story of fabulous birds ; according to the de-
scription of Ovid, and the account thereof in Hyginus, that
they were the daughters of Melpomene, and metamorphosed
into the shape of man and bird by Ceres.

And therefore these pieces, so common among us, do
rather derive their original, or are indeed the very descrip-
tions of Dagon, which was made with human figiu-e above,
and fishy shape below : whose stump, or, as Tremellius and
our margin render it, whose fishy part only remained, when
the hands and upper part fell before the ark. Of the shape
of Ai'tergates, or Derceto, with the Phoenicians, in whose

eluded a long and amusing article with the marginal note, " mermaida
impossible animals ;" supported solely by the very extraordinary argu-
ments of Sir Humphry.

Those who are desirous of seeing an enumeration of all the supposed
mermaids and monsters, which have at various times amused the pub-
lic, may refer to the article just quoted, and to a miscellaneous volume,
entitled the Worhing Bee, published by Fisher and Co., Newgate-street,
in which is an Histwical Memoir of Syrens or Mermaids.

In explanation of one or two allusions in my preceding remarks, I
may just mention that in the Evangelical Magazine, for Sept. 1822, is
inserted part of a letter from the Rev. Dr. Philip, dated Cape Town,
April 20th, 1822. The Dr. says, he had just seen a mermaid, then
exhibiting in that town. The head is about the size of a baboon's, thinly
covered with black hair ; a few hairs on the upper lip. The forehead
low, but with better proportioned and more like human features than
any of the baboons. The ears, nose, lips, chin, breasts, fingers, and
nails, resemble the human subject. Eight incisores, four canine, eight
molares. The animal, though shrunk, is about three feet long ; its re-
semblance to a man having ceased immediately under the mammce. On
the line of separation, and immediately under the breast, are two fins.
Below, it resembles a salmon. It is covered with scales — but which
on the upper part are scarcely perceptible : it was caught so;iiewhere
on the north of China by a fishennan, who sold it for a trifle. At
Batavia it was bought by Capt. Eades, in whose possession it then was.
Tliis very specimen Davy pronounced to be composed of the head and
bust from two apes, fastened to the tail of the kipper salmon, — salmo
salar.

He also notices another instance of a supposed mermaid, seen off the
coast of Caithness, which turned out to have been a gentleman bathing.
He is asserted to have intended himself. See his Salmonia.

G^ OF MERMAIDS, rXICOENS, AND OTHEES. [bOOK V.

fishy and feminine mixture, as some conceive, -n-ere implied
the moon and the sea, or the deity of the waters ; and there-
fore, in their sacrifices, they made oblation of fishes. From
whence were probably occasioned the pictures of Nereides
and Tritons among the Grecians, and such as we read in
Macrobius, to have been placed on the top of the temple of
Saturn.

We are unwilling to question the royal supporters of
England, that is, the approved descriptions of the lion and
the unicorn. Although, if in the lion the position of the
pizzle be proper, and that the natural situation, it will be
hard to make out their retrocopulation, or their coupling and
pissing backward, according to the determination of Aj-istotle ;
all that urine backward do copulate TrvyrjCuv, clunatim, or
aversely, as lions, hares, lynxes.

As for the unicorn, if it have the head of a deer and the
tail of a boar, as Vertomannus describeth it, how agreeable
it is to this picture every eye may discern. If it be made
bisulcous or cloven-footed, it agreeth unto the description
of Vertomannus, but scarce of any other ; and Aristotle
supposeth that such as divide the hoof, do also double the
horn ; they being both of the same nature, and admitting
division together. And lastly, if the horn have this situa-
tion and be so forwardly afiixed, as is described, it wiU not
be easily conceived how it can feed from the ground ; and
therefore we observe that nature, in other cornigerous ani-
mals, hath placed the horns higher and reclining, as in bucks ;
in some inverted upwards, as in the rhinoceros, the Indian
ass, and unicornous beetles ; and thus have some affirmed it
is seated in this animal.

We cannot but observe that in the picture of Jonah and
others, whales are described with two prominent spouts on
their heads ; whereas indeed they have but one in the fore-
head, and terminating over the ^vindpipe.^ Nor can we
overlook the picture of elephants with castles on their backs,
made in the form of land castles, or stationary fortifications,
and answerable unto the arms of Castile, or Sir John Old-

^ two prominent poinU, Ax. ^ The cetacea have all two spiracles, but
on some they are considerably remote fi'om each other, in others close
together, and in some so near that they seem to unite in one and
the same opening.

CHAP. XIX. ] OF MEEMAIDS, TJNICOENS, AND OTHERS. 63

castle ; whereas the towers they bore were made of wood,
and girt unto their bodies, as is delivered in the books of
Maccabees, and as they were appointed in the army of
Antiochus.

We will not dispute the pictures of retiary spiders, and
their position in the web, which is commonly made lateral,
and regarding the horizon, although, if observed, we shall
commonly find it downward, and their heads respecting the
centre. AVe will not controvert the picture of the seven
stars ; although if thereby be meant the Pleiades, or sub-
constellation upon the back of Taurus, with what congruity
they are described, either in site or magnitude, in a clear
night an ordinary eye may discover from Jidy unto ApriL
We will not question the tongues of adders and vipers, de-
scribed like an anchor, nor the picture of the fleur-de-lis :
though how far they agree unto their natural draughts, let
every spectator determine.

Whether the cherubims about the ark be rightly described
in the common picture,* that is, only in human heads, with
two wings, or rather in the shape of angels or young men,
or somewhat at least with feet, as the Scripture seems to
imply. Whether the cross seen in the air by Constantine,
were of that figure wherein we represent it, or rather made
out of X and P, the two first letters of Xpiorde. AVhetliet
the cross of Clu-ist did answer the common figure ; whether
so far advanced above his head ; whether the feet were so
disposed, that is, one upon another, or separately nailed, as
some wdth reason describe it, we shall not at all contend.
Much less w'hether the house of Diogenes were a tub framed
of wood, and after the manner of ours, or rather made of
earth, as learned men conceive, and so more clearly make
out that expression of Juvenal.f We should be too critical
to question the letter Y, or bicornous element of Pythagoras,
that is, the making of the horns equal ;'' or the left less than
the right, and so destroying the symbolical intent of the

* 2 Chron. iii. 13. f Dolia magni non ardent Cynici, &c.

' the letter Y, dtc] An allusion to this letter, in Dr. Donne's ser-
mon on "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also," is
mentioned by Dr. Vicesimus Knox in his 38th Winter Evening ; with
some exceJiSnt observations on the style of the old sermon writera.

.G4: or MEEMAIDS, TJKICOENS, AKD OTHERS. [bOOK V.

figure ; confounding the narrow line of virtue with the larger
road of vice, answerable unto the narrow door of heaven, and
the ample gates of hell, expressed by our Saviour, and not
forgotten by Homer in that epithet of Pluto's house.^*

Many more there are whereof our pen shall take notice,
nor shall we urge their enquiry ; we shall not enlarge with
what incongruity, and how dissenting from the pieces of anti-
quity, the pictm-es of their gods and goddesses are described,
and how hereby their symbolical sense is lost ; although
herein it were not hard to be informed from Phornutus,t
PulgentiuSjJ and Albricus.§ "Whether Hercules be more
properly described strangling than tearing the lion, as Vic-
torius hath disputed ; nor how the characters and figiu-es of
the signs and planets be now perverted, as Salmasius hath
learnedly declared. AVe will dispense with bears with long
tails, such as are described in the figiu-es of heaven ; we shall
tolerate flying horses, black swans, hydras, centaurs, har-
pies, and satyrs, for these are monstrosities, rarities, or else
poetical fancies,^ whose shadowed moralities requite their
substantial falsities. Wherein indeed we must not deny a
liberty ; nor is the hand of the painter more restrainable than
the pen of the poet. But where tlie real works of nature,
or veritable acts of story are to be described, digressions are
abberrations ; and art being but the imitator or secondary
representor, it must not vary from the verity of the example,
or describe things otherwise than they tridy are, or have
been. For hereby introducing false ideas of things, it per-
verts and deforms the face and symmetry of truth.

* 'EvpvTTvXrjg. f Phornut. De NatW'a Deorum.

X Fuhj. Mythologia. § Albric. De Deorum Imagiyiions.

* Whether the cheruhims, d-c] This paragraph first added in 2nd
edition.

^ flijii^O horses, <fec.] Modern discoveries have lessened this hst. Tho
black swan, though vara avis, is no longer a poetical fancy, There was
a time when the camelopard was deemed imaginary.

CKAP. XX.] HIEEOGLTPHICS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 66

CHAPTER XX.

Of the Hieroglyphical Pictures of the Egyptiouns.

Cebtaiklt of all men that suffered from the confusion of
Babel, the Egyptians found the best evasion ; for, though
words were confounded, they invented a language'' of things,
and spake unto each other by common notions in nature.
"Wliereby they discoursed in silence, and were intuitively
understood from the theory of their expresses. For they
assumed the shapes of animals common unto all eyes, and
by their conjunctions and compositions** were able to com-
municate their conceptions unto any that coapprehended the
syntaxes of their natures. This many conceive to have been
the primitive way of writing, and of greater antiquity than
letters ; and this indeed might Adam well have spoken, who
understanding the nature of things, had the advantage of
natural expressions. Which the Egyptians but taking upon
trust, upon their own or common opinion, from conceded
mistakes they authentically promoted errors ; describing in
their hierogiyphicks creatures of their own invention, or
from known and conceded animals, erecting significations
not inferible from their natures.^

' a language.'] A common language might possibly bee framed
which all should understand under one character, in their own tongue,
as well as all understand in astronomy the 12 signes, the 7 planets, and
the several aspects ; or in geometry, a triangle, a rhombe, a square, a
parallelogram, a helix, a decussation, a cross, a circle, a sector, and
such like very many : or the Saracenicall and algebraick characters in
arithmetick, or the notes of weight among physitians and apothecaryes :
or lastly, those marks of punctuations and qualityes among gramma-
rians in Hebrew under, in Arabick above, the words. To let pass
Paracelsus his particular marks, and the common practice of all trades.
— Wr.

^ hy their conjunctions, tfcc] More clearly, "by the conjunction and
composition of those shapes of animals, &c."

^^ Which the Egyptians, (fee] How little, alas, do we know of the
picture-writing of the Egyptians, even after all the profound researches
of Young, ChampoUion, Klaproth, Akerblad, De Sacy, and others : and
how little (we may perhaps add) can we hope ever to see effected. We
are told by Clemens Alexandrinus (and subsequent researches have done
ittle more than enable us to comprehend his meaning) that the Egyp-

VOL. II. F

66 HIEROGLYPHICS OF THE EGYPTIANS. [bOOK V.

And first, although there were more things in nature, than
words which did express them, yet even in these mute and

tians used three modes of writing ; — the epistolographic (called demotic
by Herodotus and Diodorus, and enchorial in the Rosetta inscription),
the hieratic (employed by the sacred scribes), and the hieroglyphich, —
consisting of the hwriologic (subsequently termed phonetic) and the sym-
bolic, of which there are several kinds ; — one representing objects joro-
Jicrly, another metaphoi'ically, a third enigmatically. The great discovery
made by Dr. T. Young, from the Rosetta inscription, was that .some of
the hieroglyphs were the signs of sounds, each hieroglyph signifying the
first letter of the Egyptian name of the object represented. Supposing
all their picture-writing to be symbolical, then it would be manifestly
impossible to hope to read it. For example, we are told that the figure
of a bee expressed the idea of royalty ; but who could have guessed this ?
Supposing on the other hand that the hieroglyphs were entirely phonetic
(which was not the case, nor can we possibly ascertain in what propor-
tion they were so), supposing them also to be certain and determinate
signs of sounds, one and the same sign always employed to represent
one and the same sound ; — supposing in short that " we could spell
syllables and distinguish words with as much certainty and precision as
if they had been written in any of the improved alphabets of the west,
there would yet always remain one difficulty over which genius itself
could not triumph ; namely, to discover the signification of the words,
when it is not known by tradition or otherwise :" — when the original
language has long since utterly vanished ; — and when the only instru-
ment left wherewith we can labour (the Coptic) is but the mutilated and
imperfect fragment of an extinct language, itself when living the rem-
nant only of that elder form of speech which we are seeking to decypher ;
but of which, alas ! through so imperfect a medium, but slight traces
and lineaments can be here and there faintly reflected. The article,
EGYPT, in the Sup. to Ency. Brit, and Hierogltphicks, in Ency. Metrop.
together with articles in the 45tli and 57th vols, of i\\Q Edinburgh Reciew,
will give those disposed to go further into the subject a full and interest-
ing view of all that has hitherto been effected in this most difficult, if
not hopeless, field of labour.

But our author's special object in this chapter is to bring against the
Egyptians the twofold charge ; first, of " describing in their hierogly-
phicks creatures of their own inventions;" and secondly, of "erecting,
from known and conceded animals, significations not inferible from their
natures." No charge, however, can be fairly entertained till it has been
proved ; — and it would be no easy matter to show that many of the

monsters enumerated, were really Egyptian : "Considering

how absurdly and monstrously complicated the Egyptian superstitions
really were, it becomes absolutely essential to separate that which is
most fully estabHshed or most generally admitted, from the accidental
or local varieties, which may have been exaggerated by different authors
into established usages of the whole nation, and still more from those
which have been the fanciful productions of their own inventive f&cul-
ties." — Dr. Towng, Egypt, Sup. Ency. Brit. iv. 43.

CHAP. XX.] HIEROGLYPHICS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 67

silent discourses, to express complexed significations, they
took a liberty to compound and piece together creatures of
allowable forms into mixtures inexistent. Thus began the
descriptions of grifl&ns, basilisks, phoenix, and many more ;
which emblematists and heralds have entertained with signi-
fications answering their institutions ; hieroglyphically adding
martegres, wivernes, Hon-fishes, with divers others. Pieces
of good and allowable invention unto the prudent spectator,
but are looked on by vulgar eyes as literal truths or absurd
impossibilities ; whereas indeed they are commendable inven-
tions, and of laudable significations.

Again, beside these pieces fictitiously set down, and having
no copy in nature, they had many imquestionably drawn, of
inconsequent signification, nor naturally verifying their inten-
tion. We shall instance but in few, as they stand recorded
by Orus. The male sex they expressed by a vulture,^ because
of vultures aU are females, and impregnated by the wind ;
which authentically transmitted hath passed many pens, and
became the assertion of -(Elian, Ambrose, Basil, Isidore,
Tzetzus, Philes, and others. "Wherein notwithstanding
what injury is ofiered unto the creation in this confijiement
of sex, and what disturbance unto philosophy in the conces-
sion of windy conceptions, we shaU not here declare. By
two drachms they thought it sufficient to signify an heart ;2
because the heart at one year weigheth two drachms, that
is, a quarter of an ounce, and unto fifty years annually in-
creaseth the weight of one drachm, after which in the same
proportion it yearly decreaseth ; so that the life of a man
doth not natiu-aUy extend above an hundred. And this

The authors on whom Browne relies, especially Pierius, are by no
means to be received without the caution expressed in the foregoing
quotation.

' The male sex, <f,-c.] See Pierius Hieroglypldca, fol. 1626, Ixxiii.
c. 1, 4. Earapollo (4to. curd Pauw), No. 12.

* By two drachms, etc.] Pierius says that the Egyptians used the
vulture to symbolize two drachms, or a heart ; and he gives other
reasons for the adoption of the symbol, though he deems that mentioned
by Browne the most probable (Ibid. 1. xviii. c. 20). Horapollo says,
they used the vulture to represent two drachms, because unity was
expressed by two lines ; and, unity being the beginning of numbers,
most fitly doth its sign express a vulture, because, like unity, it is
tingly the author of its own increase (Ibid. No. 12).

r2

68 HIEEOGLTPHICS OF THE EGYPTIANS. [bOOK V.

-.vas not only a popular conceit, but consentaneous unto the
physical principles, as Hernius hath accounted it.*

A ATomao. that hath but one child, they express by a lion-
ess ; for that conceiveth but once.^ Fecundity they set forth
by a goat, because but seven days old it beginneth to use
coition."* The abortion of a woman they describe by an horse
kicking a wolf; because a mare wiU cast her foal if she
tread in the track of that animal.* Deformity they signify
by a bear ;^ and an unstable man by a hyaena,'' because that
animal yearly exchangeth its sex. A woman delivered of
a female child they imply by a bull looking over his left
shoulder ; ^ because if in coition a bull part from a cow on
that side, the calf will prove a female.^

All whicli, with many more, how far they consent with
truth we shall not disparage our reader to dispute ; and
though some way allowable unto wiser conceits who could
distinctly receive theii* significations, yet carrying the majesty
of hieroglyphicks, and so transmitted by autlaors, they crept

* In his Philosophia Barbarica.

^ A woman, <fcc.] Pierius, lib. i. c. 14, HorapoUo, No. 82.

■* Fecundity, ttx.] Pierius, lib. x. c. 10, HorapoUo, No. 48.

■'' Tlie abortion, Ac.'\ Pierius, lib. xi. c. 9, HorapoUo, No. 45.

Whether the tracke of the wolfe will cause abortion in a mare is
liurd to bee knowne : but the mare does soe little feare the wolfe, that
(as I have heard itt from the mouth of a gentleman, an eye-witness of
what he related) as soone as shee perceaves the wolfe to lye in watch
for her young foale, she wiU never cease hunting with open mouth till
shee drive him quite away : the wolfe avoyding the gripe of her teeth,
as much as the stroke of her heeles : and to make up the probability
hereof, itt is certaine that a generous horse will fasten on a dog with
his teeth, as fell out anno 1653, in October, at Bletchinden (Oxon), a
colt being bated by a mastive (that was set on by his master to drive
him out of a pasture) tooke up the dog in his teeth by the back, and rann
away with him, and at last flinging him over his head lefte the dog soe
bruised with the gripe and the fall, that hee lay half dead ; but the
generous colte leapt over the next hedge, and ran home to his own pas-
ture unhurt. — Wr.

* Deformity, <fcc.] Pierius, 1. xi. c. 42. HorapoUo, No. 83, says,
" Hominem, qui initio quidem informis natus sit, sed postea formam
acceperit, innuunt depicta ursa praegnante."

'' an unstable, dr.] Pierius, 1. xi. c. 24, HorapoUo, No. 69.

* A woman, d;c.] Pierius, 1. iii. c. 6. HorapoUo, who adds alsff the
converse of the proposition, No. 43.

* female.^ I have heard this avowed by auncient grave farmers.— Wr,

CHAP. XXI,] OF THE PICTUEE OF HAMAN HANGED. GO

into a belief with many, and favourable doubt with most.
And thus, I fear, it hath fared with the hieroglyphical sym-
bols of Scripture ; which, excellently intended in the species
of things sacrificed, in the prohibited meats, in the dreams
of Pharaoh, Joseph, and many other passages, are ofttimes
racked beyond their symbolizations', and enlarged into con-
structions disparaging their true intentions,'

CHAPTER XXI.2

Of the Picture of Hainan Hanged.

In common draughts, Hamau is hanged by the neck upon
an high gibbet, after the usual and now practised way of
suspension : but whether this description truly answereth
the original, learned pens consent not, and good grounds

' intentions.'] Ross despatches the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th
chapters in the following summary remarks : —

" In some subsequent chapters the doctor questions the pictures of
St. Chnstopher caiTying Christ over the river : of St. George on horse-
back killing the dragon ; of St. Jerom with a clock hanging by ; of
mermaids, unicorns, and some others ; with some hieroglyphick pictures
of the Egyptians. In this he doth luctari cum larvis, and with yEneas
in the poet, Irruit et frustra ferro diverberat umbras. He wrestles with
shadows ; for he may as well question all the poetical fictions, all the
sacred parables, all tropical speeches ; also escutcheons, or coats of arms,
signs hanging out at doors — where he will find blue boars, white
lions, black swans, double-headed eagles, and such like, devised only for
distinction. The like devices are in military ensigns. Felix, Prince of
Salernum, had for his device a tortoise with wings, flying, with this
motto, amor addidit ; intimating, that love gives wings to the slowest
spirits. Lewis of Anjou, King of Naples, gave for his device, a hand
out of the clouds, holding a pair of scales, with this motto, ^qua durant
semper. Henry the First, of Portugal, had a flying horse for his device.
A thousand such conceits I could allege, which are symbolical, and
therefore it were ridiculous to question them, if they were historical.
As for the cherubims, I find four diS"erent opinions. 1. Some write
they were angels in the form of birds. 2. Aben Ezra thinks the word
cherub signifieth any shape or form, 3, Josephus will have them to be
winged animals, but never seen by any. 4. The most received opinion
is, that they had the shape of children ; for rub in Hebrew, and rabe in
Chaldee, signifieth a child ; and che, as : so then, cherub signifieth as a
child, and it is most likely they were painted in this form."

" Chap, xxi.] The whole chapter first added in 6th edition.

70 OF THE PICTUEE OE HAMAN HAKGED. [bOOK T.

there are to doubt. For it is not easily made out that this
was an ancient way of execution in the public punishment
of malefactors among the Persians, but we often read of cru-
cifixion in their stoines. So we find that Orostes, a Persian
governor, crucified Polycrates the Samian tyrant. And
hereof we have an example in the life of Artaxerxes, King
of Persia (whom some will have to be Ahasuerus in this
story), that his mother, Pary satis, flayed and crucified her
eunuch. The same also seems implied iu the letters
patent of King Cyrus : Omnis qui hanc onutaverit jus-
sionem, tollatur lignum de domo ejus, et erigatur, et con-
Jigatur in eo.*

The same kind of punishment was in use among the
Romans, Syrians, Egv'ptians, Carthaginians, and Grrecians.
Por though we find in Homer that Ulysses in a fury hanged
the strumpets of those who courted Penelope, yet it is not
so easy to discover that this was the public practice or open
course of justice among the Grreeks.

And even that the Hebrews used this present way of
hanging, by Ulaqueation or pendiilous suflbcation, in public
justice and executions, the expressions and examples in
Scriptm"e conclude not, beyond good doubt.

That the King of Hai was hanged, or destroyed by the
common way of suspension, is not conceded by the learned
Masius in his comment upon that text ; who conceiveth
thereby rather some kind of crucifixion, at least some pati-
bulary affixion after he was slain, and so represented unto
the people until toward the evening.

Though we read in our translation that Pharaoh hanged
the chief baker, yet learned expositors understand hereby
some kind of crucifixion, according to the mode of Egypt,
whereby he exemplarUy hanged out till the fowls of the air
fed on his head or face, the first part of their prey being the
eyes. And perhaps according to the signal draught hereof
in a very old manuscript of Grenesis, now kept in the Empe-
ror's library at Vienna, and accordingly set down by the
learned Petrus Lambecius, in the second tome of the descrip-
tion of that library.

When the Gibeonites hanged the bodies of those of the

* In Ezra vi.

CHAP. XXI.] or THE PICTUEE OF HAMAN HANGED. 71

house of Saul, thereby was intended some kind of crucifying,"'
according unto good expositors, and the vulgar translation ;
crucifixerunt eos in monte coram domino. Nor only these,
mentioned in Holy Scripture, but divers in human authors,
said to have sviffered by vpay of suspension or crucifixion
might not perish by immediate crucifixion ;"* but however
otherwise destroyed, their bodies might be afterward ap-
pended or fastened unto some elevated engine, as exemplary
objects unto the eyes of the people. So sometimes we read
of the crucifixion of only some part, as of the heads of
Julianus and Albinus, though their bodies were cast away.^
Besides, all crosses or engines of crucifixion were not of
the ordinary figure, nor compounded of transverse pieces,
which make out the name, but some were simple, and made
of one arrectarium serving for affixion or infixion, either fas-
tening or piercing through ; and some kind of crucifixion is
the setting of heads upon poles.

That legal text which seems to countenance the common
way of hanging, if a man hath committed a sin worthy of
death, and they hang him on a tree,* is not so received by
Christian and Jewish expositors. And, as a good annotator
of ourst deHvereth, out of Maimonides : the Hebrews under-
stand not this of putting him to death by hanging, but of
hanging a man after he was stoned to death, and the man-
ner is thus described ; after he is stoned to death they fasten
a piece of timber in the earth, and out of it there cometh a
piece of wood, and then they tie both his hands one to
another, and hang him unto the setting of the sun.

* Deut. xxi. t Ainsworth.

' ih£ Gibeonifes, <&€.] The Jews, as is just afterwards remarked, in-
flicted the infamy (rather than punishment) of hanging after death.
And so might these Gibeonites. But they were not Israelites, as Rev.
T. H. Home has observed, but Canaanites, and probably retained their
own laws. See his section on the punishments mentioned in Scripture ;
Introduction, (tc. part ii. ch. iii. §iv.

■• Nor only, <i:cf\ This sentence is inserted, in MS. SLOAN. 1827, instead
of the following : " Many, both in Scripture and human writers, might
be said to be crucified, though they did not perish immediately by cru-
cifixion."

* cast away.] The succeeding sentence was added from MS. SLOAN.
1827.

72 OF THE PICTURE OF GOD THE FATHEE. [bOOK T.

Beside, the original word, hahany, determineth not the
doubt. For that by lexicographers or dictionary interpre-
ters, is rendered suspension and crucifixion, there being no
Hebrew word peculiarly and fidly expressing the proper word
of crucifixion, as it was used by the Eomans ; nor easy to
prove it the custom of the Jewish nation to nail them by
distinct parts unto a cross, after the manner of om* Saviour
crucified ; wherein it was a special favour indulged unto
Joseph to take down the body.

Lipsius lets fall a good caution to take off doubts about
suspension delivered by ancient authors, and also the ambi-
guous sense of Kpsfiuirai among the Greeks. Tale apud
Latinos ipsum suspendere, quod in crucem referendum moneo
juventutem ; as that also may be imderstood of Seneca,
Latrocinittm fecit aliquis, quid ergo meruit? ut suspendatur.
And this way of crucifying he conceiveth to have been in
general use among the Eomans, until the latter days of Con-
stantine, who in reverence unto our Saviour abrogated that
opprobrious and infamous way of crucifixion. Whereupon
succeeded the common and now practised way of svispension.

But long before this abrogation of the cross, the Jewish
nation had known the true sense of crucifixion : whereof no
nation had a sharper apprehension, while Adrian crucified
five hundred of them every day, untd wood was wanting for
that service. So that they which had nothing but 'crucify'
in their mouths, were therewith paid home in their own
bodies ; early suffering the reward of their imprecations, and
properly in the same kind.

CHAPTER XXII.6

Of the Picture of God the Father ; of the Sun, Moon, and Winds,
with others.

The picture of the Creator, or Grod the Father, in the shape

6 Chap, xxii.] The first and second subjects of this chapter were
Nos. 14 and 15, of chapter xxii. in editions 1672 and 16S6. There they
were obviously out of their place, occurring in the midst of a very dif-
ferent class of observations. I have therefore removed them : and having
found (in No. 1827 of the Sloanian MSS. in the British Museum) some

CHAP. XXII.] OF THE PICTURE OF GOD THE FATHER. 73

of an old man, is a dangerous piece/ and in this fecundity of
sects may revive the anthropomorphites.* AVhich altliough
maintained from the expression of Daniel, " I beheld where
the ancient of days did sit, whose hair of his head was like
the pure wool ;" yet may it be also derivative from the hiero-
glyphical description of the Egyptian's ; who to express their
eneph or Creator of the world, described an old man in a
blue mantle, with an egg in his mouth, which was the emblem
of the world. Surely those heathens, that notwithstanding
the exemplary advantage in heaven, would endure no pictures
of sun or moon, as being visible unto all the world, and need-
ing no representation, do evidently accuse the practice of
those pencils that will describe invisibles. And he that chal-
lenged the boldest hand unto the picture of an echo, must
laugh at this attempt, not only in the description of invisi-
bility, but circumscription of ubiquity, and fetching under
lines incomprehensible circularity.

The pictures of the Egyptians were more tolerable, and in
their sacred letters more veniably expressed the apprehen-
sion of divinity. Eor though they implied the same by an
eye upon a sceptre, by an eagle's head, a crocodile and the
like, yet did these manual descriptions pretend no corporal
representations, nor coidd the people misconceive the same
unto real correspondencies. So, though the cherub carried
some apprehension of divinity, yet was it not conceived to
be the shape thereof; and so perhaps, because it is meta-
phorically predicated of God that he is a consuming fire, he
may be harmlessly described by a flaming representation.

* Certain hereticks who ascribed human figure unto God, after which
they conceived he created man in his likeness.

additional instances of mistakes in "pictural draughts," I have formed
the two transplanted numbers, together with the hitherto unpublished
matter, into a new chapter.

'' piece.] This is a very just and worthy censure, and well followed
•with scorne in the close of this paragraph. St. Paul saw things in a
vision which himself could not utter : and therefore they are verye bold
with God, who dare to picture him in any shape visible to the eye of
mortality, which Daniel himself behelde not, but in a rapture and an
extatical vision : unlesse they can answere that staggering question,
"To what will you liken me ?" — Wj:

St. Avgustine censures this impropriety ; Ep. cxxii.

74 HFCTOE DRAGGED BY ACHILLES. [BOOK V.

Yet if, as some will have it, all mediocrity of folly is foolish,
and because an unrequitable evil may ensue, an indifferent
convenience must be omitted, we shall not urge such repre-
sentments ; we could spare the Holy Lamb for the picture
of our Saviour, and the dove or fiery tongues to represent
the Holy Ghost.

2. The sun and moon are usually described with human
faces ; whether herein there be not a Pagan imitation, and
those visages at first implied Apollo and Diana, we may
make some doubt ; and we find the statue of the sun was
framed with rays about the head, which were the in deciduous
and unshaven locks of Apollo. We should be too iconomical*
to question the pictures of the winds, as commonly drawTi in
human heads, and with their cheeks distended ; which not-
withstanding we find condemned by Minutius, as answering
poetical fancies, and the Gentile description of -Solus,
Boreas, and the feigned deities of winds.

3.^ In divers pieces, and that signal one of Testa,^ describ-
ing Hector dragged by Achilles about the walls of Troy, we
find him drawn by cords or fastenings about both his ancles ;
which notwithstanding is not strictly answerable unto the
account of Homer, concerning this act upon Hector, but
rather applicable unto that of Hippothous drawing away
the body of Patroclus, according to the expression of
Homer :

Hippothous pede trahebat in forti pugna per acrem pugnam.
Ligatum lore ad malleolum circa tendines. — Horn. II. xvii. 289.

* Or quarrelsome with pictures. Dion. Ep. 7, a, ad Policar. et Pet.
Hall. not. in vit. S. Dionys.

* § 3.] The rest of this chapter is now first printed ; — from MS. SLOAN*
1827, 3 ; — where it is thus prefaced : — "Though some things we have
elsewhere delivered of the impropriety, falsity, or mistakes, in pictural
draughts, yet to awaken your curiosity, these may be also considered.
— In divers pieces, &c."

9 Testa.] Pietro Testa, a painter of Lucca and Rome, drowned 1632,
in the Tyber, endeavouring to save his hat, which had been blown off hy
a gust of wind. — 0/r.

CHAP. XXII.] POTIPHAe's WIFE, MOSES PEATING. 75

For that act performed by Acliilles upon Hector is mor&
particolarly described :

Amborum retro pedum perforavit tendines

Ad taluin usque a calce, bubulaque innexuit lora

De curruque ligavit ; caput vero trahi sivit. — Horn. II. xjui. 396.

So that he bound not these ties about his feet, but made a
perforation behind them, through which he ran the thongs,
and so dragged him after his chariot : which was not hard
to effect ; the strength of those tendons being able to hold
in that tracture ; and is a common way practised by butchers,
thus to hang their sheep and oxeu.^

This, though an unworthy act, and so delivered by Homer,
yet somewhat retaliated the intent of Hector himself towards
the body of Patroclus, the intimate of Achilles ; and stands
excused by Didymus upon the custom of the Thessalians, to
drag the body of the homicide unto the grave of their slain
friends ; and the example of Simon the Thessalian, who thus
dealt with the body of Eurodamus, who had before slain his
brother.

4. But, not to amuse you with pictures derived from
G-entile histories, the draught of Potiphar's lady lying on a
bed, and drawing Joseph unto her, seems additional unto the
text, nor strictly justifiable from it ; wherein it is only said,
that, after some former temptation, when Joseph came home
to despatch or order his affairs, and there was no man of the
house then within, or with him, that she laid hold of his
garment and said, "lye vnth me," without such apt prepara-
tions either of nakedness, or being in her bed, or the like
opportunities, which pictures thereof have described.

5. The picture of Moses, praying between Hur and Aaron,
seems to have miscarried in some draughts ; while some omit
the rod which he should hold up in his hand ; and others
describe him on his knees, with his hands supported by them :
whereas it is plainly said in the text, that, when Moses was
weary of standing, he sat down upon the rock. And there-
fore, for the whole process, and fuU representation, there
must be more than one draught ; the one representing him

' oxen.] In the royal library at Turin is a curious volume, containing
the Iliad, illustrated by the monks. One of the illuminations represents
the burial of Hector, and a train of Benedictines assisting in the funeral
ceremony.

76 JAEL ASD SISEEA. JOHN THE BAPTIST. [bOOK T.

in station, tlie other in session, another in genuflexion. And
though ill this piece Aaron is allowed to be present on the
hill at Eephidim, yet may he also challenge a place in the
other piece of mount Sinai (wherein he is often omitted),
according to the command of God unto Moses : " Thou shalt
come up, thou and Aaron ivitli thee ; but let not the priests
nor the people break through, to come up unto the Lord."

6. The picture of Jael nailing the head of Sisera unto the
ground, seems questionable in some draughts ; while Sisera
is made to lie in a prone posture, and the nail driven into
the upper part of the head ; whereas it is plainly delivered
that Jael struck the naU through his temples, and fastened
him to the ground: and which was the most proper and
penetrable part of the skull ; such as a woman's hand might
pierce, driving a large nail through, and longer than the
breadth of a head, according to the description, — that she
took no ordinary naU, but such as fastened her tent, and
pierced his head, and the ground under it.

7. An improper spectacle at a feast, and very incongruous
unto the birth-day of a prince, a time of pardon and relaxa-
tion, was the head of John the Baptist. More properly, in
the noble picture thereof, the hand of Eeuben hath left out
the person of Herodias, who was not in the room, agreeably
unto the delivery of St. Mark; that, after Herod had
promised to grant her daughter whatever she woidd ask,
she went out to enquire of her mother, Herodias, what she
should demand. And that Salome, or her daughter, bi'ought
in the head of John unto Herod, as he was sitting at the
table, though it well sets off" the picture, is not expressed in
the text ; wherein it is only said that she brought it imto
her mother.

8. That King Ahasuerus feasted apart from the queen, is
conlirmable from Scripture account. Whether the queen
were present at the fatal feast of Belshazzar seems of greater
doubt ; forasmuch as it is said in the text, that, upon the
fright and consternation of the king, when none of the Chal-
deans could read the hand-writing on the wall, the queen
came in, and recommended Daniel unto him. But if it be
only meant and understood of the queen-mother, the draught
may hold, and the licentia pictoria not cidpable in that
notable piece of Tiiitoret or Bassano describing the feast of

CHAP. XXII.'] OUR SAVIOUR IN THE SHIP. 77

Belshazzar, wherein the queen is placed at the table with the
king.

9. Thougli some hands have failed, yet the draught of St.
Peter in the prison is properly designed by Rubens, sleeping
between two soldiers, and a chain on each arm ; and so
illustrateth the text, that is, with two chains fastened unto
his arms, and the one arm of each of the soldiers, according
to the custom of those times, to fasten the prisoner unto his
guard or keeper ; and after which manner St. Paul is con-
ceived to have had the liberty of going about Rome.

10. In the picture of our Saviour sleeping in the ship,
while in many draughts he is placed not far from the middle,
or in the prow of the vessel, it is a variation from the text,
which distinctly saith " at the poop," which being the
highest part, was freest from the billows. Again, in some
pieces he is made sleeping with his head hanging down ; in
others, on his elbow ; which amounteth not mito the textual
expression, " upon a pillow," or some soft support, or at
least (as some conceive that emphatical expression may
imply) some part of the ship convenient to lean down the
head. Besides, this picture might properly take in the con-
current account of the Scripture, and not describe a single
ship, since the same delivereth that there went off other
naviculce, or small vessels with it.

11. Whilst the text delivereth that the tempter placed
our Saviour (as we read it) upon the jnnnacle of the temple,
some draughts do place him upon the point of the highest
turrets ; which, notwithstanding, Josephus describeth to
have been made so sharp that birds might not Hght upon
them ; and the word ivrepvyiov signifying a pinna^ or some
projecture of the building, it may probably be conceived to
have been some plain place or jetty, from whence he might
well cast himself dovni upon the groimd, not faUing upon
any part of the temple ; if there were no wing or prominent
part of the building peculiarly called by that name.

12. That piece of the three children in the fiery furnace,
in several draughts, doth not conform unto the historical

^ the word, cfcc] Unquestionably it could not have been any thing
like a turret or pinnacle. Some commentators (Le Clerc) consider it a
projecting portion of the building outside the parapet. Others (R<sen-
miiller) call it the flat roof of a portico.

78 THE riEET FUEIfACE. [bOOK V.

accounts : wliile in some thej are described naked and bare-
headed ; and in others with improper coverings on their
heads. Whereas the contrary is delivered in the text, under
all learned languages, and also by our own, with some
expositions in the margin : not naked in their bodies,
(according to their figure in the JRoma Sotterranea of Bosio,^
among the sepulchral figures iu the monument of St. Pris-
cdla), but having a loose habit, after the Persian mode,
upon them, whereby it might be said that their garments
did not so much as smell of the fire ; nor bare on their heads,
as described in the first chamber of the cemetery of PriscUla^
but having on it a tiara, or cap, after the Persian fashion,
made somewhat reclining or falling agreeable unto the third
table of the fifth cemetery, and the mode of the Persian sub-
jects ; not a peaked, acuminated, and erected cap, proper
unto their kings, as is set down in the medal of Antoninus,
with the reverse, Annenin. A standard direction for this
piece might probably be that ancient description set down
in the calendar used by the Emperor Basilius Porphyro-
genitus, and by Pope Paid the Fifth, given unto the Vatican,
where it is yet conserved."*

' Roma, <fcc.] Jacques Bosio, Roma Sotterranea; left imperfect by
him, but publi.shed by his executor, Aldrovandini, fol. 1632 ; since
translated into Latin, and reprinted several times, with additions. — Or.

■• Numerous additions might yet further be made to our author's collec-
tion of pictorial inaccuracies, if such were fairly within our province. It
may be allowed to us, at least, to give one or two references to such
additions. John Interian de Avala, a Spanish monk, who died at Madrid,
in 1770, published a work on the errors of painters in representing
religious subjects ; it is entitled P/rtor Christiamis Eruditiis, tol. 1720.

In the European Magazine, for 1786, vol. ix. p. 241, is noticed a very
curious work (little known), by M. Phil. Rohr, entitled Pictor Errans,
■which was abridged by Mr. W. Bowyer. Mr. Singer, in his Anecdotes
ofSpence, and Mr. D'Israeli, in his Curiosities of Literature, have given
some very amusing collectanea of the kind. In the Monthly Magazine
for 1812, are noticed several singular absurdities in costume ; and un-
doubtedly many other such examples would reward a diligent forage
through our numerous periodical publications : — but it is only requi-
site to compare the Illustratiuns which are constantly issuing from the
hands of our artists, with the works they are intended to illustrate, ia
order to be frequently reminded of the proverl^ial conclusion of the
whole matter ; — " it is even as pleaseth thepainter,"

CHAP. XXIII.] OP AN HaUE CEOSSING THE HIOHWAT. 79

CHAPTEE XXIII.

Compendiously of many popular Customs, Opinions, <Sec. viz. of an Hare
crossing the High-way ; of the ominous appearing of Owls and Ravens ;
of the falling of Salt ; of breaking the Egg-shell : of the True Lovers^
Knot ; of the Cheek Burning or Ear Tingling ; of speaking under tite
Hose; of Smoke following the Fair ; of Sitting cross-legged ; of hair
upon Moles ; of the set time of pairing of Nails ; of I/ions' heads upon
Spouts and Cisterns ; of the saying, Ungirt, Unhlest ; of the Svm dcmc-
img on Easter-day ; of the Silly-how ; of being Drunk once a Month ;
of the appeanng of the Devil with a Cloven hoof.

If an hare cross the high-way,^ there are few above three-
score years that are not perplexed thereat ; which not-
withstanding is but an augurial terror, according to that
received expression, Inauspicatum dat iter oblatus lepus.
And the groimd of the conceit was probably no greater than
this, that a fearful animal passing by us, portended unto us
something to be feared : as upon the like consideration, the
meeting of a fox presaged some future imposture ; which
was a superstitious observation prohibited unto the Jews, as
is expressed in the idolatry of Maimonides, and is referred
unto the sin of an observer of fortunes, or one that abuseth
events vmto good or bad signs ; forbidden by the law of
Moses ; which notwithstanding sometimes succeeding, ac-
cording to fears or desires, have left impressions and
timorous expectations in credulous minds for ever.

2. That owls and ravens^ are ominous appearers, and pre-

* hare^ When a hare crosseth us, wee thinke itt ill lucke shee should
8oe neerely escape us, and we had not a dog as neere to catch her. — Wr.

* ravens?\ The raven, by his accute sense of smelling, discerns the
savour of the dying bodyes at the tops of chimnies, and that makes
tliem flutter about the windows, as they use to doe in the searche of a
carcasse. Now bycause whereever they doe this, itt is an evident signe
that the sick party seldome escapes deathe : thence ignorant people
counte them ominous, as foreboding deathe, and in some kind as causing
deathe, whereof they have a sense indeed, but are noe cause at all. Of
owles there is not the same opinion, especially in country-men, who
thinke as well of them in the Same as of the cat in the house : but in
great cityes where they are not frequent, their shriking and horrid
note in the night is offensive to women and children, and such as are
weake or sicklye. — Wr.

On the owl, as an ominous bird, see Tlie Queen Bee, ii. 22. — Jef.

80 OWLS AKD EAYE^rS. FALLING Or SALT. [BOOK V,

eiguifying unlucky events, as Christians yet conceit, was also
an augurial conception. Because many ravens were seen
when Alexander entered Babylon, they were thought to
preominate his death ; and because an owl appeared before
the battle,'' it presaged the ruin of Crassus. Which, though
decrepit superstitions, and such as had their nativity in times
beyond all history, are fresh in the observation of many
heads, and by the credulous and feminine party still in some
majesty among us. And therefore the emblem of super-
stition was well set out by Eipa,* in the picture of an owl,
an hare, and an old woman. A_nd it no way confirmeth the
augurial consideration that an owl is a forbidden food in the
law of Moses ; or that Jerusalem was threatened by the raven
and the owl, in that expression of Isa. xxxiv. ; that it should
be " a court for owls, that the cormorant and the bittern
should possess it, and the owl and the raven dwell in it;"
for thereby was only implied their ensuing desolation, as is
expounded in the words succeeding ; " He shall draw upon
it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness."^

3. The foiling of salt^ is an authentic presagement of ill-
luck, nor can every temper contemn it ; from whence not-

* Iconologia de Ccesare,

' the battle.] With the Parthians near Charrse.

* emptinens.] It is rather singular that the cuckoo is not honoured
with a place here. " Plinie writeth that if, when you first hear the
cuckoo, you mark well where your right foot standeth, and take up of
that earth, the fleas will by no means breed, either in your house or
chamber, where any of the same earth is thrown or scattered ! " HilVs
Natural and Artificial Conclusions, 1650. In the North, and perhaps
all over England, it is vulgarly accounted an unlucky omen, if you have
no money in your pocket, when you hear the cuckoo for the first time
in a seasoa. Queen Bee, ii. 20. — Jeff.

It would perhaps be rather difiicult to say under what circumstances
most people would not consider such a state of pocket an " unlucky
omen."

It is a still more common popular divination, for those who are
unmarried to count the number of years yet allotted to them of
single blessedness, by the number of the cuckoo's notes which they count
when first they hear it in the spring.

3 salt.'] Where salt is deare, 'tis as ill caste on the ground as bread.
And soe itt is in France, where they pay for every bushel 40s. to the
king ; and cannot have itt elsewhere : and soe when a glass is spilt 'tiH
ill lucke to loose a good cup of wine. — Wr.

CHAP. XXIII.] OF BREAKING THE EGG-SHEIL. 81

withstanding nothing can be naturally feared ; nor was the
same a general prognostick of future evil among the ancients,
but a particular omihation concerning the breach of friend-
ship. For salt,* as incorruptible, was the symbol of frieml-
ship, and, before the other service, was offered unto their
guests ; which, if it casually fell, wiis accounted ominous,
and their amity of no duration. But whether salt^ were not
only a symbol of friendship with man, but also a figure of
amity and reconciliation with God, and was therefore
observed in sacrifices, is an higher speculation."^

4. To break the egg-shell after the meat is out, we are
taught in our childhood, and practise it all our lives ; which
nevertheless is but a superstitious relique, according to the
judgment of Pliny ; Hue ■pertinet ovorum, tit exsorhuerit
quisqiie calices protinus frangi, aut eosdem cocltlearibus per-
forari ; and the intent hereof was to prevent witchcraft;"*

' For salt, ^c.'\ The hospitality most liberally shown by Mr. Ackennan
of the Strand, to the Cossack veteran, Alexander Zemlenuten, in 1815,
waa highly estimated by the stranger, who in describing his generous
reception used the exclamation, "He gave me bread and salt." This
is mentioned in the 41st vol. oi the Monthli/ Magazine — and illustrated
by a sketch of the opinions and feelings of the ancients respecting this
"incorruptible symbol of friendship." — Leonardo da Vinci, in his pic-
ture of the last supper, has represented Judas Iscariot as having over-
turned the salt. — Jeff-

Captain M'Leod, in his voyage of the Alceste, says that in an island
near the straits of Gaspar, " salt was received with the same horror as
arsenic."

^ But wltether salt, dx.] First added in 2nd edition.

•* also a figure, <£'c.] In the first vol. o{ Blacl-woocV s Magazine ^\\\ he
found a paper on the symbolical uses of salt, p. 579. In the same volume
also occur several papers on the use made formerly of the salt-cellar
(which was often large, ornamented and valuable, and placed in the
centre of the table) as a point of separation between guests of higher
and lower degree. — To drinh helow the salt was a condescension ; to attain
a seat above it, an object of ambition. — See Bishop Hall's Satires, No. vi.
b. 28.

Among the regalia used at the king's coronation, is the salt of state,
to be placed in the centre of the dinner table, in the fonii of a castle with
towers, richly embellished with various coloured stones, elegantly
chased, and of silver, richly gilt. This, it is said, was prese-_.ted to
King Charles II. by the City of Exeter.— /c/.

'' to prevent witchcraft.] "To keep the fairies out," as they say iu
Cumbei land.— Jeff.

TTOL. II. Q

82 THE TEUE-LOVEES' KNOT. [BOOK V

for lest witclies^ should draw or prick their names herein,
and veneficiously mischief their persons, they broke the
shell, as Dalecampius hath observed.

5. The true lovers' knot^ is very much magnified, and
still retained in presents of love among us ; which though in
all points it doth not make out, had perhaps its original from
the nodus Herculanus, or that which was called Hercules his
knot, resembling the snaky complication in the caduceiis or
rod of Hermes ; and in which form the zone or woollen
girdle of the bride was fastened, as Turnebus observeth in
his Adveisaria.

6. When our cheek burnetii or ear tingleth,^ we usually
say that somebody is talking of us, which is an ancient con-
ceit, and ranked among superstitious opinions by Pliny ;
Absentes tinnitu aurium prcesentire sermones de se, receptum
€i,t ; according to that distich noted by Dalecampius ;

GaiTula quid totis resonas mihi noctibus auris ?
Nescio quetu dicis nunc meminisse mei.

Which is a conceit hardly to be made out without the
concession of a signifying genius, or universal Mercury, con-
ducting sounds unto their distant subjects, and teaching us
to hear by touch.

7. AVhen we desire to confine our words, we commonly
say they are spoken under the rose ;^ which expression is

* lest witches.] Least they perchance might use them for boates (as
they thought) to .sayle in by night. — Wr.

^ lovers' knot.] The true lovers' knot is magnified, for the moral sig-
nification not esily untyed ; and for the naturall, — bycause itt is a knot
both wayes, that is, two knots in one. — Wr.

' t'mgleth.] The singing of the eare is frequent upon the least cold
seizing on the braine : but to make construction hereof, as yf itt were
the silent humme of some absent friendly soule (especially falling most
to bee observed in the night, when few friends are awake) is one of the
dotages of the heathen. — Wr,

* rose.] Of those that commonlye use this proverb few, besides the
learned, can give a reason why they use itt : itt is sufficient that all
men knowe what wee meane by that old forme of speeche, thoughe (as
of raanye other such like) they know not the originall. — Wr.

Warburton (says Brand) commenting on that passage of Shakspeare
in Henry VI. : —

" From off this briar pluck a white rose with me,"
flupposes the present saying to have originated in the struggle between

CHAP. XXIII.] UNDEE THE ROSE. 83

commendable, if the rose from any natural property may be
the symbol of silence, as Nazianzen seems to imply in these
translated verses ;

Utque latet Rosa verna suo putamine clausa,
Sic OS vincla ferat, validisque arctetur habenis,
Indicatque suis prolixa silentia labris :

And is also tolerable, if by desiring a secrecy to words
spoken under the rose, we only mean in society and compo-
tation, from the ancient custom in symposiack meetings, to
wear chaplets of roses about their heads : and so we con-
demn not the German custom, which over the table
describeth a rose in the ceiling. But more considerable it
is, if the original were such as Lemnius and others have
recorded, that tlie rose was the flower of Venus, which Cupid
consecrated unto Harpocrates the God of silence, and was
therefore an emblem thereof, to conceal the pranks of venery,
as is declared in this tetrastich :

Est rosa flos "Veneris, cujus qu5 facta laterent,

Harpocrati matris, dona dicavit amor ;
Inde rosam meusis hospes suspendit amicis,

Convivse ut sub ea dicta tacenda sciant.^

8. That smoke doth follow the fairest,^ is an usual saymg
with us,2 and in many parts of Europe ; whereof although
there seem no natural ground, yet is it the continuation of a
very ancient opinion, as Petrus, Victorius, and Casaubon
have observed from a passage in Athenseus ; wherein a para-
site thus describeth himself:

the two houses of York and Lancaster ; in which secrecy must veiy
often have been enjoined, on various occasions, and probably was so
" under the rose."

In Pegge's Anonymiana , the symbol of silence is referred to the rose
on a clergynian's hat, and derived from the silence which popish priests
kept as to the confessions of their people. — Jeff.

^ sciant.] The discourses of the table among true loving friendes re-
quire as stricte silence, as those of the bed between the married. — Wr.

' fairest.] The fairest and tenderest complexions are soonest
offended with itt : and therefore when they complain, men use this
suppling proverb. — Wr.

- an usual saying with us.] An observation of Brand {Pojmlar
Antiquities) seems to imply that he considered the saying to have be-
come extinct since the days of Browne. This is by no means the case.
It is stil/ very common in Norfolk.

g2

84 TO SIT CEOSS-LEGGED. [bOOZ T,

To every table first I come,

Whence porridge I am call'd by some ,

A Capaneus at stairs I am,

To enter any room a ram ;

Like whips and thongs to all I ply,

Like smoke unto the fair I fly.

9. To sit cross-legged,^ or with our fingers pectinated or
sliut together, is accounted bad, and friends will persuade us
from it. The same conceit religiously possessed the ancients
as is observable from Pliny ; poplites alternis genihus impo-
oiere nefas olim : and also from Athenseus, that it was an old
veneficious practice, and Juno is made in this posture to
hinder the delivery of Alcmsena. And therefore, as Pierius
observeth, in the medal of Julia Pia, the right-hand of Venus
was made extended with the inscription of Yenus G-enitrix ;
for the complication or pectination of the fingers was an
liieroglyphick of impediment, as in that place he declareth.

10. The set and statary times of pairing of nails, and
cutting of hair,'* is thouglit by many a point of consideration ;
which is perhaps but the continuation of an ancient super-
stition. For piaculous^ it was unto the Romans to pare
their nails upon the Nundinae, observed every ninth day ;
and was also feared by others in certain days of the week ;
according to that of Ausonius, Ungues llercitrio, Barham
Jove, Cypride Crines ; and was one part of the wickedness
that filled up the measure of Manasses, when 'tis delivered
that he observed times.*

11. A common fashion is to nourish hair upon the moles
of the face ; which is the perpetuation of a very ancient

* 1 Chron. xxxv.

^ To sit cross-legged.'] There is more incivilitye in this forme of
sitting, then malice or superstition ; and may sooner move our spleen to
a smile then a chafe. — Wr.

■• Art/?'.] They that would encrease the haire maye doe well to ob-
serve the increasing moone at all times, but especially in Taurus or
Cancer : they that would hinder the growthe, in the decrease of the
moone, especially in Capricornus or Scorpio : and this is soe far from
superstitious folly that it savours of one guided by the rules of the
wise in physic. And what is sayd of the haire may bee as fitly applied
to the iiaylea. — Wr. Oh ! Mr. Dean !

* piaculous.'\ Kequiring expiation.

CHA.P. XXIIT.] OF CUTTING THE HAIR. 85

custom : and, thougli innocently practised among us, may-
have a supei'stitious original, according to that of Pliny :
Ncevos in facie tondere religiosum liabent nunc multi. From
the like might pi'oceed the fears of polling elvelocks^ or
complicated hairs off the heads, and also of locks longer
than the other hair ; they being votary at first, and dedi-
cated upon occasion ; preserved with great care, and accord-
ingly esteemed by others, as appears by that of Apuleius,
adjuro per dulcem capilli tui nodulum.

12. A custom there is in some parts of Europe to adorn
aqueducts, spouts and cisterns with lions' heads ; which
though no illaudable ornament, is of an Egyptian genealogy,
who practised the same under a symbolical illation. For
because, the sun being in Leo, the flood of Nilus was at the
full, and water became conveyed into every part, they made
the spouts of their aqueducts through the head of a lion.^
And upon some celestial respects it is not improbable the
great Mogul or Indian king both bear for his arms the lion
and the sun.®

13. Many conceive there is somewhat amiss, and that as
we usually say, they are unblest, until they put on their
girdle. AVherein (although most know not what they say)
there are involved unknown considerations. Eor by a girdle
or cincture are symbolically implied ti*uth, resolution, and
readiness unto action, which are parts and virtues required
in the service of Grod. According whereto we find that the
Israelites did eat the paschal lamb with their loins girded y*

* Isa. xi.

' dvelocks.^ Such is the danger of cutting a haire in the Hungarian
knot that the blood will flow out of itt, as by a quill, and will not bee
stanched. And thence perhaps the custome first sprange, though since
abused. — Wr.

'' lion.'] Architects practise this forme still, for noe other reason
then the beautye of itt. — Wr.

* sun.'] These two are the emblems of majestye : the sonne signify-
ing singularity of incommunicable glory : the lyon sole soveraintye, or.
monarchall power ; and therefore most sutable to their grandour. — Wr.

* girded.] I suppose this innocent custome is most comely and most
Christian, partly in observation of the old precept of St. Paule
[Ephes. vi. 14], and partly in imitation of him in the first of the reve-
lation, who is described doubly girt, about the paps, and about the
loyns. See the Icon of St. Paul before his Epistles, in the Italian Tes-
tament, at Lions, 1556. — Wr.

86 OF THE GIEDLE OE CIXCTUEE. [BOOK T.

and the Almighty challenging Job, bids him gird up his
loins like a man. So runneth the expression of Peter,
" Gird up the loins of your minds, be sober and hope to the
end;" so the high priest was girt with the girdle of fine
linen ; so is it part of the holy habit to have our loins girt
about with truth ; and so is it also said concerning our
Saviour, " Eighteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and
faithfulness the girdle of his reins."

Moreover by the girdle, the heart and parts which God
requires are divided from the inferior and concupiscential
organs ; implying thereby a memento, unto purification and
cleanness of heart, which is commonly defiled from the con-
cupiscence and affection of those parts ; and therefore unto
this day the Jews do bless themselves when they put on
their zone or cincture. And thus may we make out the
doctrine of Pythagoras, to offer sacrifice with our feet naked,
that is, that our inferior parts, and farthest removed from
reason, might be free, and of no impediment unto us. Thus
Achilles, though dipped in Styx, yet, having his heel un-
touched by that water, although he were fortified elsewhere,
he was slain in that part, as only vulnerable in tlie iixferior
and brutal part of man. This is that part of Eve and her
posterity the devil still doth bruise, that is, that part of the
soul which adhereth unto earth, and walks in the path
thereof. And in this secondary and s\Tnbolical sense it may
be also iinderstood, when the priests in the law washed their
feet before the sacrifice ; when our Saviour washed the feet
of his disciples, and said imto Peter, " If I wash not thy feet,
thou hast no part in me." And thus is it symbolically
explainable, and implieth purification and cleanness, when
in the burnt-off"erings the priest is commanded to wash the
inwards and legs thereof in water ; and in the peace and sin-
offerings, to burn the two kidneys, the fat which is about
the flanks, and as we translate it, the caul above the liver.
But whether the Jews, when they blessed themselves, had
any eye unto the words of Jeremy, wherein God makes them
his girdle ; or had therein any reference unto the girdle,
which the prophet was commanded to hide in the hole of the

The Israelites ate the paschal lamb with their loin& girt, as being in
readiness to take their journey (from Egypt).

CUAP. XXIII.] THE DANCING ON EASTEE-DAT. 87

rock of Euphrates, and whicli was the type of their captivity,
we leave unto higher conjecture.

14. We shall not, I hope, disparage the resurrection of
our Redeemer, if we say tlie sun doth not dance on Easter-
day. And though we would willingly assent unto any sym-
pathetica! exvdtation, yet cannot conceive therein any more
than a tropical expression. "Whether any such motion there
were in that day wherein Christ arose, Scripture hath not
revealed, which hatli been punctual in other records con-
cerning solary miracles ; and the Areopagite, that was amazed
at the eclipse, took no notice of this. And if metaphorical
expressions go so far, we may be bold to affirm, not only that
one sun danced, but two arose that day : — that light appeared
at his nativity, and darkness at his death, and yet a light at
both ; for even that darkness was a light unto the Gentiles,
illuminated by that obscurity : — that it was the first time
the sun set above the horizon : — that although there were
darkness above the earth there was light beneath it ; nor
dare we say that hell was dark if he were in it.

15. Great conceits are raised of the involution or mem-
branous covering, commonly called the silly-how, that some-
times is found about the heads of children upon their birth,
and is therefore preserved with great care, not only as medi-
cal in diseases, but effectual in success, concerning the infant
and others, which is surely no more than a continued super-
stition. For hereof we read in the Life of Antoninus,
delivered by Spartianus, that children are born sometimes
with this natural cap ; which midwives were wont to sell
unto credulous lawyers, who had an opinion it advantaged
their promotion. ^

' •promotion?^ By making them gracious in pleadinge : to whom I
thinke itt was sufficient punishment, that they bought not wit, but folly
so deare. — Wr.

Even till recently the opinion has been held, that a child's caul (silly-
how) would preserve a person from drowning ! In the Times of May 6,
1814, were three advertisements of fine cauls to be sold at considerable
prices specified. The following appear at subsequent dates : — " To
voyagers. A child's caul to be sold for 15 guineas. Apply, &c."
Tivies, Dec. 8th, 1819.

Another for 16 guineas : Times, Dec. 16, 1829.

" A child's caul to be disposed of. The efficacy of this wonderful
production of nature, in preserving the possessor from all accidents by
Bea and land, has long been experienced, and is universally acknow-

88 OF BEING DRUNK ONCE A MONTH. [bOOK V,

tat to speak strictly, the effect is natural, and tlius may
be conceived : animal conceptions have (largely taken) three
teguments, or membranous films, which cover them in the
womb : that is, the chorion, amnios and allantois. The
cTiorion is the outward membrane, wherein are implanted the
veins, arteries, and umbilical vessels, whereby its nourish-
ment is conveyed. The allantois is a thin coat seated imder
the chorion, wherein are received the waterj^ separations
conveyed by the urachus, that the acrimony thereof should
not offend the skin. The amnios is a general investment,
containing the sudorous or thin serocity perspirable through
the skin. Xow about the time when the infant breaketh
these coverings, it sometimes carrieth with it, about the
head, a part of the amnois or nearest coat ; which, saith
Spigelius,* either proceedeth from the toughness of the
membrane, or weakness of the infant that cannot get clear
thereof. And therefore, herein significations are natural
and concluding upon the infant, but not to be extended unto
magical signalities, or any other person.

16. That it is good to be drunk once a month, is a com-
mon flattery of sensuality, supporting itself upon physick,
and the healthful effects of inebriation.- This indeed seems

* De Formate Fcetu.

ledged : the present phenomenon was produced on the 4th of March
inst. and covered not only the head, but the whole body and limbs of a
fine female infant, the daughter of a respectable master tradesman.
Apply at No. 49, Gee-street. Goswell-street, where a reference will be
oiven to the eminent physician who officiated at the birth of the child."
Times, March 9th, 1820. Another advertised, £Q, Times, Sept. 5th,
1820. Anotherfor 12 guineas, di«o, Jan. 23rd, 1824. See New Monthly
Mag., May, July, Aug. 1814. _

Intellect, surely, was not yet in full march at this period.

2 inebriation.] Noe man could more properlye inveighe against this
beastly sinu, then a grave and learned physitian, were itt for noe more
but the acquitting his noble faculty from the guilt of countenancinge
a medicine soe lothsome and soe odious. - Certainlye itt cannot but
mao-nifiehis sober spirit, that does make his own facultye (as Hagar to
Sarah) vayle to divinity, the handmayd to her lady and mistresse :
especially seeinge the naturall man cannot but confesse that itt is base,
unworthye the divine offspring of the human soule, which is immortal!,
to put of itself for a moment, or to assume the shape, or much less the
guise of (the uglyest beast) a swine, for any supposable benefit accruing
thereby to this outward carcasse, especially when itt may bee iai

CHAP. XXIIl J OF BEING DllUNK OlfCE A MONTH. 89

plainly affirmed by Avicenna, a physician of great authority,
and whose religion, prohibiting wine, could less extenuate
ebriety. But Averroes, a man of his own faith, was of an-
other belief; restraining his ebriety unto hilarity, and in effect
making no more thereof than Seneca commendeth, and was
allowable in Cato ; that is, a sober incalescence and regulated
sestuation from wine ; or, what may be conceived between
Joseph and his brethren, when the text expresseth they were
merry, or drank largely ; and whereby indeed the conunodi-
ties set down by Avicenna, that is, alleviation of spirits, reso-
lution of superfluities, provocation of sweat and urine, may
also ensue. But as for dementation, sopition of reason and
the diviner particle, from drink ; though American religion
approve, and Pagan piety of old hath practised it, even at
their sacrifices, Christian morality and the doctrine of Christ
will not allow. And surely that religion which excuseth the
fact of Noah, in the aged surprisal of six hundred years, and
unexpected inebriation from the unknown effects of wine,
will neither acquit ebriosity-^ nor ebriety, in their known and
intended perversions.

And indeed although sometimes effects succeed which may
relieve the body, yet if they carry mischief or peril unto the
soul, we are therein restrainable by divinity, which circum-
scribeth physick, and circumstantially determines the use
thereof. From natural considerations physick commendeth
the use of venery ; and haply incest, adultery, or stupration,
may prove as physically advantageous as conjugal copulation;
which notwithstanding must not be drawn into practice.
And truly effects, consequents, or events which we commend,
arise ofttimes from ways which we all condemn. Thus from
the fact of Lot w^e derive the generation of Euth and blessed
nativity of our Saviour ; which notwithstanding did not ex-
tenuate the incestuous ebriety of the generator. And if, as
is commonly urged, we think to extenuate ebriety from the
benefit of vomit oft succeeding, Egyptian sobriety will con-
better relieved by soe many excellent, easie, warrantable wayes of
physick. — Wr.

" Drunkenness (methinks) can neither become a wise philosopher to
prescribe, nor a virtuous man to practise." — Bp. Hall, Heaven upon
Earth, § 3.

^ ebiiosity.] Habitual drunkennesB.

90 THE DETIL HAS A CLOTEX HOOF [BOOK T.

demn us, whicli purged both ways twice a month without this
perturbation ; and we foolishly contemn the liberal hand of
God, and ample field of medicines which soberly produce
that action.

17. A conceit there is, that the devil commonly appeareth
with a cloven hoof:^ wherein, although it seem excessively
ridiculous, there may be somewhat of truth ; and the ground
thereof at first might be his frequent appearing in the shape
of a goat, which answers that description. This was the
opinion of ancient Christians concerning the apparition of
Panites, fauns, and satyrs ; and in this form we read of one
that appeared unto Antony in the wilderness. The same
is also confirmed from expositions of Holy Scriptures ; for
whereas it is said,* " Thou shalt not offer unto devils," the
original word is seglininm, that is, rough and hairy goats,
because in that shape the devil most often appeared ; as is
expounded by the Ilabbins, and Tremellius hath also ex-
plained ; and as the word Ascimah, the god of Emath, is by
some conceived. jSTor did he only assume this shape in elder
times, but commonly in latter times, especially in the place
of his worship, if there be any truth in the confession of
witches, and as in many stories it stands confirmed by Bodi-
nus.f And therefore a goat is not improperly made the
hieroglyphick of the devil, as Pierius hath expressed it. So
might it be the emblem of sin, as it was in tlie sin-offering ;
and so likewise of wicked and slnfid men, according to the
expression of Scripture in the method of the last distribu-
tion ; when our Saviour shall separate the sheep from the
goats, that is, the sons of the Lamb from the children of the
devil.

* Levit. xvii. f In his Dcemonomania.

'' hoof.'\ 'Tis remarkable that of all creatures the devil chose the
cloven-footed, wherein to appeare, as satyrs, and goatishe monsters :
the swine whereon to worke his malice : and the calves wherein to bee
worshiped as at Dan and Bethel. For which cause the Spirit of God
cald those calves (raised by Jeroboam for worship) devils : 2 Chron. xi.
15. And that he chose his priests of the lowest of the people was very
enitable. For where their god was a calfe, 'twas not improper that a
butcher should be the preiste. — Wr.

CHAP. XXIV.] POPULAR OPINIONS. 91

CHAPTEE XXIV.

Of Popular Customs, Opinions, d'C. ; of the Prediction of the Tear ensuing
from the Insects in Oak Apples ; that C'hilcb'cn would naturally speak
Hebrew; of refraining to kill Swallows; of Lights burning dim at the
Apparition of Spirits ; of the wearing of Coral ; of Moses' Mod in the
Discovery of Mines ; of discovering doibtful matters ly Book or Staff.

1. That temperamental dignotions, and conjecture of
prevalent humours, may be collected from spots in our nails,
we are not averse to concede ; but yet not ready to admit
sundry divinations vulgularly raised upon them. Nor do we
observe it verified in others, what Cardan * discovex'ed as a
property in himself ; to have found therein some signs of
most events that ever happened unto him. Or that there is
much considerable in that doctrine of clieiromancy, that spots
in the top of the nails do signify things past ; in the middle,
tilings present ; and at the bottom, events to come. That
white specks presage our felicity ; blue ones our misfor-
tunes. That those in the nail of tlie thumb have significa-
tions of honour ; those in the forefinger, of riches ; and so
respectively in other fingers (according to planetical relations,
from whence they receive their names), as Tricassus t hath
taken up, and Picciolus well rejecteth.^

We shall not proceed to query what truth there is in
palmistry, or divination from those lines in our hands, of
high denomination. Although if any thing be therein, it
seems not confinable unto man ; but other creattu-es are also
considerable ; as is the forefoot of the mole, and especially
of the monkey, wherein we have observed the table-line, that
of life and of the Hver.

2. That children committed unto the school of nature,
without institution, would naturally speak the primitive lan-
guage of the world, was the opinion of ancient heathens, and

* De Varietate Herum. f De Inspectione ManOs.

" spots, (fcc] This saying has remained to the present day. Such
superstitions will only cease when the ignorance of the lower orders,
through whom they find their way into the nursery, shall have given
place to the general diffusion of Knowledge — especially of religioug
knowledge.

92 CHILDREN NATIJEALLT SPEAK HEBREW. [BOOK V.

continued since by Christians ; wlio will have it our Hebrew
tongue, as being the language of Adam. That this were
true, were much to be desired, not only for the easy attain-
ment of that useful tongue, but to determine the true and
primitive Hebrew. For whether the present Hebrew be the
unconfounded language of Babel, and that which, remaining
in Heber, was continued by Abraham and his posterity ; '' or

^ Fw whether the present Hehrexv, ttr.] On the subject of this passage,
patient and learned ingenuity has been exercised in successive ages to
afford us — only hypothesis and conjectures. And though it must be
admitted that nothing more satisfactory can, in the nature of things, be
expected, yet is it certain, that in order to constitute a thorowjh com-
petency to propose even these, nothing less would suffice than the most
profound acquaintance with history and geography from their remotest
traces ; and an erudition competent to the analysis and classification, not
only of the languages of antiquity, but of those living tongues and dialects
which now cover the earth, and to which modern discoveries are daily
making additions. On the question, whether the confusion of tongues
left one section or family of the existing population in possession of the
pure and unadulterated antediluvian language, I cannot perceive the
materials for constructing even a conjecture. As to the theory here
proposed, on which Abraham might understand those nations among
whom he sojourned, by his o%\'n means of philological approximation,
I cannot help feeling that it is almost like claiming for the patriarch an
exemption from the operation of the confusion of tongues. Among the
most recent works on this general class of questions, is Mr. Beke's
Origines Bihlicw, a work in which some novel hypotheses have called
down on their author the criticism of those who differ from him ; while
at the same time the tribute of praise has not been denied to the ability
he has displayed, and especially to that spirit of reverence for scriptural
authority which pervades his work.

Mr. Beke first states his opinion, — in opposition to the more usual
hypothesis which considers the languages of the Jews, Arabians, and
other nations of similar character, to be the Semitic or Shemitish family
of languages, — that this origin may more probably be assigned to those
of Tibet, China, and all those nations of the east and south-east of Asia,
•which are manifestly distinct from the Japhthitish Hindoos and
Tartars ; including the islands of the Indian Archipelago and the South
Seas. He subsequently gives the following reasons for attributing to
the usually-called Semitic languages (namely, Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac,
Arabic, and Ethiopic of Abyssinia), " a Mitzrite, and therefore Hamitish
origin." " 'WTien the Almighty was pleased to call Abraham from his
native country, the land of the Arphaxidites, or Chaldees, first into the
country of Aram, and afterwards into that of Canaan, one of two things
must necessarily have had place ; either that the inhabitants of these lat-
ter countries spoke the same language as himself, or else that he acquired
the knowledge of the foreign tongues spoken by these people during his
residence in the countriot? in which they were vernacular. That they

CHAP. XXIV.] CniLDEEN NATL'EALLT SPEAK HEBREW. 93

rather the language of Phoenicia and Canaan, wherein he
lived, some learned men I perceive do yet remain unsatisfied.

all made use of the same language cannot be imagined. Even if it be
assumed that the descendants of Arphaxad, Abraham's ancestor, and
the Aramites, in whose territories Terah .and his family first took up
their residence, spoke the same language, or, at the furthest, merely
dialects of the same original Shemitish tongue, we cannot suppose that
this language would have resembled those which were spoken by the
Hamitish Canaanites, and Philistines, in whose countries Abraham
afterwards sojourned, unless we at the same time contend that the con-
fusion of tongues at Babel was practically inoperative ; a conclusion, I
apprehend, in which we should be directly opposed to the exjiress words
of Scripture : Gen. xi. 1 — 9.

" We have no alternative, therefore, as it would seem, but to con-
sider (as, in fact, is the plain and obvious interpretation of the circum-
stances), that Abraham having travelled from his native place (a dis-
tance of above 600 miles) to the 'south country,' the land of the Philis-
tines, where he 'sojourned many days,' he and his family would have
acquired the language of the people amongst whom they thus took up
their residence. But it may be objected that Abraham and his
descendants, although living in a foreign country, and necessarily
speaking the language of that country in their communications with its
inhabitants, would also have retained the Aramitiah tongue spoken in
Haran, and that the intercourse between the two countries having been
kept up, first by the marriage of Isaac with his cousin Rebekah, and
subsequently by that of Jacob also with his cousins Leah and Rachel,
and more especially from the circumstance of Jacob's having so long re-
sided in Padan-Aram, and of all his children, with the exception of
Benjamin, having been born there, the family language of Jacob, at the
time of his return into the ' south country,' must indisputably have beec
the Aramitish. It may be argued farther, that although for the pur-
pose of holding communication with the Canaanities and the Philistines,
it was necessary to understand their languages also, yet that the lan-
guage most familiar to Jacob and his household continued to be the
Aramitish, until the period when they all left Canaan to go down into
Mitzraim ; and hence it might be coutended that no good reason exists
for opposing the generally received opinion, that the Hebrew is the
same Aramitish tongue which was taken by the Israelites into Mitz-
raim, it being only necessary to suppose that the language was preserved
substantially without corruption during the whole time of their sojourn-
ing in that country.

" But even admitting this argument, which however I am far from
allowing to be conclusive ; how are we to explain the origin of the
Arabic language ? This is clearly not of Aramitish derivation. It is
the language which was spoken by the countrymen of Hagar, amongst
whom Ishmael was taken by her to reside, and with whom he and his
descendants speedily became mixed up and completely identified.
Among these people it is not possible that the slightest portion of the

94 CHILDREN NATURALLY SPEAK HEBREW. [bOOK T

Although I confess probability stands fairest for the former ;'
nor are they without all reason, who think that at the confu-
sion of tongues, there was no constitution of a new speech in
every family, but a variation and permutation of the old ; out
of one common language raising several dialects, the primi-
tive tongue remaining still entire ; which they who retained,
might make a shift to uiiderstand most of the rest. By
virtue whereof in those primitive times and greener confu-

Aramitish tongue of Abraham .should have existed before the time of
Ishuiael ; nor can it be conceived that the Mitzritish descendants of the
latter would have acquired that language through him, even supposing
(though I consider it to be far from an .established fact) that the
Aramitish had continued to be the only language which was spoken by
Abraham's family during the whole of his residence in the south
country among the Canaanites and Philistines ; and supposing, also,
that Ishmael acquired a perfect knowledge of that language, and of no
otlier (which, however, is very im^irobable, his mother being a Mitzrite),
from the circumstance of his childhood having been passed in his father's
house.

" I apprehend, indeed, that the Mitzritish origin of the Arabic lan-
guage is a fact which cannot be disputed ; and if this fact be conceded,
there remains no alternative but to admit^indeed it is a mere truism to
8ay — that the Hebrew, which is a cognate dialect with the Arabic, must
be of common origin with that language, and consequently of Mitz-
ritish derivation also The fact of the striking coinci-
dences which may be found in the language of the Berbers, in Northern
Africa, with the languages of cognate origin with the Hebrew, is in
the highest degree confirmatory of the Hamitish origin which I attri-
bute to the whole of them ; and it becomes the more particularly so, on
the consideration that I derive the Berbers themselves directly from
the country where I conceive the Israelites to have acquired their lan-
guage."

As to the nature and degree of change which took place in the exist-
i?ig language at its confusion, Mr. Beke contends, " that the idea of an
absolute and permanent change of dialect is more strictly in accordance
with the literal meaning of the scriptural account of the confusion of
tongues, than the supposition that the consequences of that miraculous
occurrence were of a temporary nature onlj', and that the whole of the
present diversities in the languages of the world are to be referred to the
gradual operation of subsequent causes."

In the foregoing sentence, and still more in the disquisition which
precedes it, Mr. Beke's opinion is in opposition to a very high authority
both as a natural historian and a philologist, — the Rev. W. D. Cony-
beare, who supports (in his Elementary Course of Lectures, on the Criti-
cism, Intcrpretatii n, and Leading Doctrines of the Bible), the more usually
received opinion, ihat Hebrew, and the cognate languages, axe of Shem«
itish origin.

CHAP. XXIV. J IIEFRAINING FEOM KILtll^G SWALLOWS. 95

fiions, Abraliam, of the family of Heber, was able to converse
with the Chaldeans, to understand Mesopotamians, Canaan-
ites, Philistines, and Egyptians : whose several dialects he
could reduce unto the original and primitive tongue, and so
be able to understand them.

3. Though useless unto us, and ratlier of molestation,^ we
commonly refrain from killing swallows, and esteem it un-
lucky ^ to destroy them : whether herein there be not a
Pagan relick, we have some reason to doubt. For we read
in ^lian, that these birds were sacred unto the Penates or
household gods of the ancients, and therefore were pre-
served.* The same they also honoured as the -nuncios of tlie
spring ; and we find in Athenaeus that the Ehodians had a
solemn song to welcome in the swallow.

4. That candles and lights burn dim and blue at the ap-
parition of spirits, may be true, if the ambient air be fidl of
sulphureous spirits, as it happeneth ofttimes in mines, where
damps and acid exhalations are able to extinguish them.
And may be also verified, when spirits do make themselves
visible by bodies of such eflluviums. But of lower consi-
deration is the common foretelling of strangers, from the
fungous parcels about the wicks of candles ; which only sig-
nifieth a moist and pluvious air about them, hindering the
avolation of the light and favillous particles ; whereupon
they are forced to settle iipon the snast.^

5. Though coral doth properly preserve and fasten the
teeth in men, yet is it used in children to make an easier
passage for them : and for that intent is worn about their

* The same is extant in the 8th of Athenseus.

' useless, (tc] This is a most undeserved censure. The swallows are
very useful in destroying myriads of insects, which would be injurious.

* and esteem it unlucky, d-c.] A similar superstition attaches to the
robin and the wren ; — the tra,dition is, that if their nests are robbed,
the cows will give bloody milk ; — schoolboys rarely are found hardy
enough to commit such a depredation on these birds, of which the com-
mon people in some parts of England have this legend —

Robinets and Jenny Wrens,

Are God Almighty's cocks and hens.

^ snast.'] The Norfolk (and perhaps other folk's) vulgar term, signi-
fying the burnt portion of the wick of the candle ; which, when sufiB-
ciently lengthened by want of snuffing, becomes crowned with a cap of
the purest lamp-black, called here, " the fungous parcels," &c.

96 OF WEAEING COEAL, MOSEs' EOD. [BOOK V.

necks. But whether this custom were not superstitiously
founded, as presumed an amulet or defensative against fasci-
nation, is not beyond all doubt. For the same is delivered
by Pliny ;* Aruspices religiosum coralli gestameii amoliendis
'periculis arhitrantur ; et surculi infantia alligati, tutelam
habere creduntur}

6. A strange kind of exploration and peculiar way of rhab-
domancy is that which is used in mineral discoveries ; that
is, with a forked hazel, commonly called Moses' rod, which
freely held forth, will stir and play if any mine be under it.
And though many there are who have attempted to make it
good, yet until better information, we are of opinion with
Agricolat, that in itself it is a fruitless exploration,^ strongly
scenting of Pagan derivation, and the virgula divma, prover-
bially magnified of old. The ground whereof were tlie magi-
cal rods in poets, that of Pallas in Homer, that of Mercury
that charmed Argus, and that of Circe which transformed
the followers of Ulysses. Too boldly usurping the name of
Moses' rod, from which notwithstanding, and that of Aaron,
were probably occasioned the fables of all the rest. For that
of Moses must needs be famous unto the Egyptians ; and
that of Aaron unto many other nations, as being preserved
in the ark, until the destruction of the temple built by
Solomon.

* Lib. xxxii. t D^ -^c Metallica, lib. ii.

' That temperamental, tOc] The first five sections of this chapter
were first added in the 2nd edition.

^ €xploration.'\ This is worthy of note bycause itt is averred by many j
authors of whom the world hath a great opinion. — Wr.

From a paper by Mr. Wm. Philips, in T'dloclts Philosophical Mac/aziiie,
vol. xiii. p. 309, on the divining rod, it appears that it was ably advocated
by De Tliouvenel, in France, in the 18th century, and soon after — in our
own country — by a philosopher of unimpeachable veracity, and a chemist,
Mr. WilHam Cook worthy, of Plymouth. Pryce also informs us, p. 123,
of his Mineralogia Cornuhiensis, that many mines have been discovered
by means of the rod, and quotes several ; but, afte ■ a long account of
the mode of cutting, tying, and using it, iuterspersci^ with observations
on the discriminating faculties of constitutions and persons in its use,
altogether rejects it, because " Cornwall is so plentifully stored with
tin and copper lodes, that some accident every week discovers to us a
fresh vein," and because " a grain of metal attracts the rod as strongly
as a pound," for which reason " it has been found to dip equally to a
poor as to a rich lode." — See Trans. Geol. Soc. ii. 123.

CHAP. XXIV.] OF THE DIVIKiNa-STAFP. 97

7. A practice there is among us to determine doubtful
matters, by the opening'' of a book, and letting fall a staft",
which notwithstanding are ancient fragments of Pagan
divinations. The first an imitation of sortes Homericce, or
Virgiliance,'^ drawing determinations, from verses casually
occurring. The same was practised by Severus, who enter-

^ opening.'\ For the casual opening of a Bible, see Cardan, de Va-
rietate, p. 1040.— IFr.

"* Virgilia^ia;.] King Charles I. tried the sortes Virgiliance, as is
related by Welwood in the following passage : —

"The king being at Oxford during the civil wars, went one day to
see the public library, where he was showed among other books, a Virgil
nobly printed, and exquisitely bound. The Lord Falkland, to divert
the king, would have his majesty make a trial of his fortune by the
sortes Virgiliance, which every body knows was an usual kind of augury
.some ages past. Whereupon the king opening the book, the period
which happened to come up, was that part of Dido's imprecation against
iEneas ; which Mr. Dryden translates thus : —

Yet let a race untamed, and haughty foes.
His peaceful entrance vnth dire arms oppose.
Oppress'd with numbers in th' unequal field,
His men discouraged and himself expell'd.
Let him for succour sue from place to place,
Torn from his subjects, and his son's embrace,
First let him see his friends in battle slain.
And their untimely fate lament in vain :
And when at length the cruel war shall cease,
On hard conditions may he buy his peace ;
Nor let him then enjoy supreme command.
But fall untimely by some hostile hand,
And lie unburied in the common sand.
It is said King Charles seemed concerned at this accident ; and that
the Lord Falkland observing it, would likewise try his own fortune in
the same manner ; hoping he might fall upon some passage that could
have no relation to his case, and thereby divert the king's thoughts
from any impression the other might have upon him. But the place
that Falkland stumbled upon was yet more suited to his destiny than
the other had been to the king's ; being the following expressions of
Evander, upon the untimely death of his son Pallas, as they are trans-
lated by the same hand : —

0 Pallas ! thou hast fail'd thy plighted word.
To fight with reason ; not to tempt the sword.

1 wam'd thee but in vain, for well I knew
What perils youthful ardour would pursue ;
That boiling blood would cari-y thee too far,
Young as thou wert in dangers, raw to war.
0 curst essay of arms, disastrous doom.
Prelude of bloody fields and fights to come.

VOL. IT. H

98 OF THE DIVTN'TNG-STAFF. [BOOK Y.

tained ominous hopes of the empire, from that verse in Virgil,
Tu regere imperio populos, Somane, memento ; and Gordia-
nus, who reigned but few days, was discouraged by another ;
that is, Ostendunt ierris hune tantum fata, nee ultra esse
sinunt.^ Nor was this only performed in heathen authors, but
upon the sacred text of Scripture, as Gregorius Tiu-onensis
hath left some account ; and as the practice of the Emperor
Heraclius, before his expedition into Asia Minor, is delivered
by Cedrenus.

As for the divination or decision from the staff, it is an
augurial relick, and the practice thereof is accused by God
himself; "My people ask counsel of their stocks, and their
staff declareth unto tliem."* Of this kind of rhabdomancy
was that practised by Nebuchadnezzar in that Chaldean mis-
cellany, delivered by Ezekiel ; " The King of Babylon stood
at the parting of the way, at the head of two ways to use
divination, he made his arrows bright, he consulted with
iuuiges, he looked in the liver : at the right hand were the
divinations of Jerusalem." t That is, as Estius expounded
it, the left way leading unto Eabbah, the chief city of the
Ammonites, and the right unto Jerusalem, he consulted idols
and entrails, he threw up a. bundle of arrows to see which
way they would light, and falling on the right hand he
marched towards Jerusalem. A like way of belomancy or
divination by arrows hath been in request with Scythians,
Alanes, Germans, with the Africans and Turks of Algier.
But of another nature was that which was practised by
Elisha,;^ when, by an arrow shot from an eastern window,
he presignified the destruction of Syria ; or when, according
unto the three strokes of Joash, with an arrow upon the
ground, he foretold the number of his victories. For thereby
the Spirit of God pai"ticulared the same, and determined
the strokes of the king, unto three, which the hopes of the
prophet expected in twdce that number.^

* Hosea iv. f Ezek. xxiv. ^ 2 Kings xiii. 15.

* sinunt.] Of all other, I cannot but admire that ominous dreame of
Constans, the emperor, the sonne of Heracleonas, and father of Pogo-
natus, anno imperii 13, who beinge to fight with barbarians the next
niorne, near Thessalonica, thought hee heard one cryinge Big aXXy
Niic»)j', which the next day prov-ed too true. — Wr.

* As for ike divination, <i-c.'\ This paragraph, and the three following,
were first added in the second edition.

CHAP. XXIY.] THE DAYS OF THE WEEK. 91*

8. We cannot omit to observe the tenacity of ancient
customs, in the nominal observation of the several days of
the week, according to Grentile and Pagan appellations ;*
for the original is very high, and as old as the ancient
Egyptians, who named the same according to the seven
planets, the admired stars of heaven, and reputed deities
among them. Unto every one assigning a several day ; not
according to their celestial order, or as they are disposed in
heaven, but after a diatesseron or musical foiu'th. For be-
ginning Saturday with Saturn, the supremest planet, they
accounted by Jupiter and Mars unto Sol, making Sunday.
From Sol in like manner by Venus and Mercury unto Luna,
making Monday : and so through all the rest. And the
same order they confirmed by numbering the hours of the
day unto twenty-four, according to the natural order of the
planets. For beginning to account from Saturn, Jupiter,
Mars, and so about unto twenty-four, the next day will fall
unto Sol ; whence accounting twenty-four, the next will
happen unto Luna, making Monday ; and so with the rest,
according to the account and order observed still among us.

The Jews themselves, in their astrological considerations,
concerning nativities and planetary hours, observe the same
order upon as witty foundations. Because, by an equal inter-
val, they make seven triangles, the bases whereof are the
seven sides of a septilateral figure, described within a circle.
That is, if a figure of seven sides be described in a circle, and
at the angles thereof the names of the planets be placed in
their natural order on it ; if we begin with Saturn, and suc-
cessively draw lines from angle to angle, until seven equi-
crural triangles be described, whose bases are the seven sides
of the septilateral figure ; the triangles will be made by this
order.f The first being made by Saturn, Sol, and Luna,
that is, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday ; and so the rest in
the order still retained.

But thus much is observable, that however in celestial
considerations they embraced the received order of the
planets, yet did they not retain either characters or names
in common use amongst us ; but declining human denomi-

* Dion. Cassii lib. xxxvii.

t Cwjus icon apud Doct. Gaffarel, cap. ii. el Fabrit. Pad.
h2

100 OF THE KEMOTAL OE WAETS. [uOOK \.

nations, they assigned them names from some remarkable
qualities : as is very observable in their red and splendent
planets, that is, of Mars and Yenus. But the change of
their names * disparaged not the consideration of their
natures ; nor did they thei'eby reject all memory of these
remarkable stars, which God himself admitted in his taber-
nacle, if conjecture will hold concerning the golden candle-
stick, whose shaft resembled the sun, and six branches the
nlanets about it.

9. We are unwilling to enlarge concerning many other ;
only referring unto sober examination, what natural effects
can reasonably be expected, when to prevent the epliicdtes
or night-mare, we hang up an hollow stone in oiu- stables ;
when for amulets against agues we use the chips of gallows
and places of execution/ When for warts we rub our hands
* Maadim Noyah.

'' execution.] See what the Lord St. Alban's sayes for the cert»'-tye
of this expermiente made upon himself in his natural historye, ceniurye
10th, and 997 experiment. — Wr.

" The sympathy of individuals, that have been entire, or have touched,
is of all others the mo.st incredible ; yet according unto our faithful
manner of examination of nature, we will make some little mention of
it. Tlie taking away of warts, by rubbing them with somewhat that
afterwards is put to waste and consume, is a common experiment ; and
I do apprehend it the rather because of my own experience. I had
from my childhood a wart upon one of my fingers : afterward.s, when 1
was about sixteen years old, being then at Paris, there grew upon both
my hands a number of warts at the least an hundred, in a month's
space. The English ambassador's lady, who was a woman far from
.superstition, told me one day, she would help me away with my warts:
whereupon she got a piece of lard with the skin on, and ru):)bed the
warts all over with the fat side ; and amongst the rest, that wart which
I had had from my childhood : then she nailed the piece of lard, with
the fat towards the sun, upon a post of her chamber window, which
was to the south. The success was, that within five weeks' space all
the warts went quite away : and that wart which I had so long endured,
for company. But at the rest I did little marvel, because they came in
a short time, and might go away in a short time again : but the going
away of that which had stayed so long doth yet stick with me. They
say the like is done by the rubbing ot warts with a gieen elder stick
and then burying the stick to rot in muck. It would be tried with
corns and wens, and such other excrescences. I would have it also
tiied with some parts of living creatures that are nearest the nature
of excrescences ; as the combs of cocks, the spurs of cocks, the
horns of beasts, &c. And I would have it tried both way.? ; both by
-ubbing those parts with lard, or elder, as before ; and by cutting off

cnAr. sxiy."! of the removal of wartb. I Jl

before the moon,^ or commit any maculated part unto the
touch of the dead. What truth there is in those common
female doctrines, that the first rib of roast beef powdered, is
a peculiar remedy against fluxes ; — that to urine upon earth
newly cast up by a mole, bringeth down the menses in
women ; — that if a child dieth, and the neck becometh not
stiff, but for many hours remaineth lithe and flaccid, some
other in the same house will die not long after ; — that if a
woman with child looketh upon a dead body, her child will
be of a pale complexion ;^ — our learned and critical philo-
sophers might illustrate, whose exacter performances our
adventures do but solicit : meanwhile, I hope they will
plausibly receive our attempts, or candidly correct our mis-
conjectures.^

Disce, sed ira caJ.it naso, rugosaque sanna,
Duin veteres avias tibi de pulmone revello.

some piece of those parts, and laying it to consume : to see whether it
will work any effect towards the consumption of that part whicli was
once joined with it." — Natural History, Cent. x. No. 997.

* When for warts loe rub our hands, <tc.'\ Hear what Sir Kenelnie
Digby says of this matter in his Late Discourse, &c. Touching the Cure
of wounds hy the Poiver of Sympathy^ &c. 12mo. 1658.

" I cannot omit to add hereunto another experiment, which is, that
we find by tlie effects, how the rays of llie moon are cold and moist.
It is without controversy, that the luminous parts of those rays come
from the sun, the moon having no light at all within her, as her eclipses
bear witness, which happen when the earth is opposite betwixt her and
the sun ; which interposition suffers her not to have light from his rays.
The beams then which come fi'om the moon, are those of the sun,
whicli glancing upon her, reflect upon us, and so bring with them the
atoms of that cold and humid star, which participates of the source
whence they come : therefore if one should expose a hollow bason, or
glass, to assemble them, one shall find, that whereas those of the sun
do burn by such a conjuncture, these clean contrary do refresh and
moisten in a notable manner, leaving an aquatic and viscous glutining
kind of sweat upon the glass. One would think it were a folly that one
should offer to wash his hands in a well-polished silver bason, wherein
there is not a drop of water, jet this may be done by the reflection of
the moonbeams only, which will afford a competent humidity to do it ;
but they who have tried this, have found their hands, after they are
wiped, to be much moister than usually : hut this is an infallible way to
take away vartsfrom the hands, if it he often used."

^ What truth there is, tfcc] This sentence was first added, and the
arrangement of the paragraphs in the chapter altered, in the 6th edit.

' 7nisconjectures.] The perusal of the two preceding chapters, calls

. LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

102 OF THE SFPEKSTITIOL'S. [bOOK Y.

powerfully to mind the following lively and eloquent " character of the
s-uj^erstitious," drawn by our author's pious and learned friend. Bishop
Hall.

" Superstition is godless religion, devout impiety. The superstitious
is fond in oVjservation, servile in fear : he worships God, but as he lists:
he gives God what he asks not, more than he asks, and all but what he
should give ; and makes more sins than the ten commandments. This
man dares not stir forth, till his breast be crossed, and his face sprinkled.
If but a hare cross him the way, he returns ; or, if his journey began,
unawares, on the dismal day, or if he stumbled at the threshold. If he
see a snake unkilled, he fears a mischief: if the salt fall towards him,
he looks pale and red ; and is not quiet, till one of the waiters has
poured wine on his lap : and when he sneezeth, thinks them not his
friends that uncover not. In the morning he listens whether the crow
crieth e\en or odd ; and, by that token, presages of the weather. If
he hear but a raven croak from the next roof, he makes his will ; or if
a bittour fly over his head by night : but if his troubled fancy shall
second his thoughts with the dream of a fair garden, or green rushes,
or the salutation of a dead friend, he takes leave of the world, and says
he cannot live. He will never set to sea but on a Sunday ; neither
ever goes without an eira j^dter in his pocket. St. Paul's day, and St.
Swithin's, with the twelve, are his oracles ; which he dares believe
against the almanack. When he lies sick on his death-bed, no sin
troubles him so much, as that he did once eat flesh on a Friday : no
repentance can expiate that ; the rest need none. There is no dream
of his, without an interpretation, without a prediction ; and, if the
event answer not his exposition, he expounds it according to the event.
Every dark grove and pictured wall strikes him with an awful but
carnal devotion. Old wives and stars are his counsellors : his night-
spell is his guard, and charms, his physicians. He wears Paracelsian
characters for the tooth-ache : and a little hallowed wax is his antidote
for all evils. This man is strangely credulous ; and calls impossible
things, miraculous : if he hear that some sacred block speaks,
moves, weeps, smiles, his bare feet carry him thither with an oSering ;
and, if a danger miss him in the way, his saint hath the thanks. Some
ways he will not go, and some he dares not ; either there are bugs, or
he feigneth them : every lantern is a ghost, and every noise is of chains.
He knows not why, but his custom is to go a little about, and to leave
the cross still on the right hand. One event is enough to make a rule :
out of these rules he concludes fashions proper to himself ; and nothing
can turn him out of his own course. If he have done his task, he is
safe : it matters not wiuii ^hat afiection. Finally, if God would let
him be the carver of his own obedience, he could not have a better
subject : as he is, he cannot have a worse," — Bishop Hall's ChavacteiB
of Vices; Worls by Pratt, vol. vii. 102.

THE SIXTH BOOK:

THE PAETICULAE PART CONTINUED.

OP POPULAR AND RECEIVED TENETS, COSMOGEAPHICAt,
GEOGRAPHICAL, AND HISTORICAL.

CHAPTER I.

Covicerning the ieginning of the World, that the time thereof is not
'precisely known, as commonly it is presumed.

CoNCEENiNG the world and its temporal circumscriptions,
wlioever shall strictly examine both extremes, wiU easily
perceive, there is not only obscurity in its end, but its
beginning ; that as its period is inscrutable, so is its nati-
vity indeterminable ; that as it is presumption to enquire
after the one, so is there no rest or satisfactory decision in
the other. And hereunto we shall more readily assent, if
we examine the information, and take a view of the several
difficulties in this point ; which we shall more easily do, if
we consider the different conceits of men, and duly perpend
the imperfections of their discoveries.

And first, the histories of the GrentUes afford us slender
satisfaction, nor can they relate any story, or affix a pro-
bable point to its beginning.^ For some thereof (and those
of the wisest amongst them) are so far from determining
its beginning, that they opinion and maintain it never had
any at all ; as the doctrine of Epicurus implieth, and more
positively Aristotle, in his books De Ccelo, declareth.
Endeavouring to confirm it with arguments of reason, and
those appearingly demonstrative ; wherein his labours are
' its ieginning .'\ The beginning of the world.

iO t THE BEGI>^]SriNG OF THE WORLD. [bOOK TI..

rational, and uncontrollable upon the grounds assumed, tliat
is, of physical generation, and a primary or first matter,
beyond which no other hand was apprehended. But herein
we remain sufficiently satisfied from Moses, and the doc-
trine delivered of the creation ; that is, a production of all
things out of nothing, a formation not only of matter, but
ot form, and a materiation even of matter itself.

Others are so far from defining the original of the world
or of mankind, that they have held opinions not only re-
pugnant unto chronology, but pliilosophy ; that is, that
they had their beginning in the soil where they inhabited ;
assuming or receiving appellations conformable unto such
conceits. So did the Athenians term themselves avTo^dovec:
or Aborigines, and in testimony thereof did wear a golden
insect on their heads : tlie same name is also given unto the
Inlanders, or Midland inhabitants of this island, by Csesar.
But this is a conceit answerable unto the generation of the
giants ; not admittable in philosophy, much less in divinity,
which distinctly informeth we are all the seed of Adam, that
the whole world perished, unto eight persons before the
flood, and was after peopled by the colonies of the sons of
Noah. There was therefore never any autoclitlwn'^ or man
arising from the earth, but Adam ; for the woman being
formed out of the rib, was once removed from earth,
and framed from that element under incarnation. And so
although her production were not by copulation, yet was it
in a manner seminal : for if in every part from whence the
seed doth flow, there be contained the idea of the whole ;
there was a seminality and contracted Adam in the rib,
which, by the information of a soul, was individuated unto
Eve. And therefore this conceit applied unto the original
of man, and the beginning of the world, is more justly
appropriable unto its end ; for then indeed men shall rise
out of the earth : the graves shall shoot up tlieir concealed
seeds, and in that great autunni, men shtill spring up, and
awake from their chaos again.

* autocltihmii] Autochthon [rising himselfe from the earthe], which
was not to bee granted of the first ; who did not spring [as plants now
doe] of himselfe. For Adam was created out of the dust by God. The
second Adam might bee trulyer called Autochthon, in a mystical sense,
not only in respect of his birthe, but of his resurrection alsoe. — Wr.

C'UAP. I.] THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD. 10i>

Others have been so blind in deducing the original of
things, or delivering their own beginnings, that when it
hath fallen into controversy, they have not recurred unto
chronology or the records of time ; but betaken themselves
unto probabilities, and the conjectiiralities of philosophy.*
Thus when the two ancient nations, Egyptians and Scy-
thians, contended for antiquity, the Egyptians pleaded their
antiquity from the fertility of their soil, inferring that men
there first inhabited, where they were with most facility
sustained ; and such a laud did they conceive was Egypt.

The Scythians, although a cold and heavier nation, urged
more acutely, deducing their arguments from the two
active elements and principles of all things, fire and water.
Eor if of all things there was first an union, and that fire
over-ruled the rest, surely that part of earth which was
coldest would first get free, and afford a place of habitation :
but if all the earth were first involved in water, those parts
would surely first appear, which were most high, and of
most elevated situation, and such was theirs. These
reasons carried indeed the antiquity from the Egyptians,
but confirmed it not in the Scythians : for, as Herodotus
relateth, from Pargitaus their first king unto Darius, they
accounted but two thousand years.

As for the Egyptians, they invented another way of
trial; for as the same author relateth, Psammitichus their
king attempted this decision by a new and unknown expe-
riment ; bringing up two infants with goats, and where
they never heard the voice of man ; concluding that to be
the ancientest nation, whose language they should first
deliver.^ But herein he forgot, that speech was by instruc-
tion not instinct ; by imitation, not by nature ; that men do
speak in some kind but like parrots, and as they are in-
structed, that is, in simple terms and words, expressing the
open notions of things ; which the second act of reason
compoimdeth into propositions, and the last into syllogisms
and forms of ratiocination. And howsoever the account of

* Diodor. Justin.

^ As for the Egyptians, tfcc] " It is said that after they were two years
old, one of the boys cried hecchus, which in the Phrygian language sig-
nifyeth ' bread/ whence it was conjectured that the Phrj^iaus were the
first people." — Jeff.

106 THE beginni:ng of the woeld. [book ti.

Manethon the Egyptian priest run very high, and it be
evident that Mizrair.. peopled that country (whose name
with the Hebrews it beareth unto this day), and there be
many thmgs of great antiquity related in Holy Scripture,
yet was their exact account not very ancient ; for Ptolemy
their countryman beginneth his astronomical compute no
higher than Nabonasser, who is conceived by some the
same with Salmanasser. As for the argument deduced
from the fertility of the soil, duly enquired it rather over-
throweth than promoteth their antiquity ; if that country
whose fertility they so advance, was in ancient times no
firm or open land, but some vast lake or part of the sea,
aud became a gained ground by the mud and limous matter
brought down by the river Nilus, which settled by degrees
into a fii'm land, — according as is expressed by Strabo, and
more at large by Herodotus, both from the Egyptian tradi-
tion and probable inducements from reason ; called there-
fore Jluvii donum, an accession of earth, or tract of land
acquired by the river.

Lastly, some indeed there are, who have kept records of
time, and a considerable duration, yet do the exactest
thereof afford no satisfaction concerning the beginning of
tlie world, or any way point out the time of its creation.
The most authentick records and best approved antiquity
are those of the Chaldeans ; yet in the time of Alexander
the Great they attained not so high as the flood. For as
Simplicius relateth, Aristotle required of Calisthenes, who
accompanied that worthy in his expedition, that at his
arrival at Babylon, he would enquire of the antiquity of
their records ; and those upon compute he found to amount
unto 1903 years, which account notwithstanding arisetli no
higher than ninety-five years after the flood. The Arca-
dians, I confess, were esteemed of great antiquity, and it
was usually said they were before the moon ; according
unto that of Seneca ; sidus post veferes Arcades edifitm,
and that of Ovid, lu7id gens prior iUa fuit. But this, as
Censorinus observeth, must not be taken grossly, as though
they were existent before that luminary ; but were so
esteemed, because they observed a set course of year,
before the Greeks conformed their year unto the course and
motion of the moon

CUAP. I.j THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD. 10/

Thus the heathens affording no satisfaction herein, they
are most likely to manifest this truth, who have been
acquainted with Holy Scripture, and the sacred chronology
delivered by Moses, who distinctly sets down this account,
computing by certain intervals, by memorable aeras, epochs
or terms of time : as, from the creation unto the flood, from
hence unto Abraham, from Abraham unto the departure
from Egypt, &c. Now in this number have only been
Samaritans, Jews, and Christians.

For the Jews ; they agree not in their accounts, as
Bodine in his method of history hath observed, out of
Baal Seder, Rabbi Nassom, Gersom, and others ; in
whose compute the age of the world is not yet 5400
years. The same is more evidently observable from two
most learned Jews, Philo and Josephus ; who very much
differ in the accoimts of time, and variously sum up these
intervals assented unto by all. Thus Philo, from the de-
parture out of Egypt unto the building of the temple,
accounts but 920 years ; but Josephus sets down 1062 :
Philo, from the building of the temple, to its destruction,
440 ; Josephus, 470 : Philo, from the creation to the
destruction of the temple, 3373 ; but Josephus, 3513 :
Philo, from the deluge to the destruction of the temple,
1718 ; but Josephus, 1913. In which computes there are
manifest disparities, and such as much divide the concord-
ance and harmony of times.

For the Samaritans ; their account is different from these
or any others ; for they account from the creation to the
deluge but 1802 years ; which cometh to pass upon the
different account of tlie ages of the patriarchs set down
when they begat children. For whereas the Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin texts account Jared 162 when he begat
Enoch, they account but sixty-two : and so in others.
Now the Samaritans were no incompetent judges of times
and the chronology thereof; for they embrace the five
books of Moses, and as it seemeth, preserve the text with
far more integrity than the Jews : who, as Tertullian,
Chrysostom, and others observe, did several ways corrupt
the same, especially in passages concerning the prophecies
of Christ. So that, as Jerome professeth, in his translation
he was fain sometime to relieve himself by the Samaritan

108 THE BEGINNING OF THE WOELD. [bOOE TI.

Pentateuch ; as amongst others in that text, Deutero-
nomy xxvii. 26 ; Maledictus omnis qui non permanserit in
omnibus qtice scripta sunt in libro legis. From hence
Saint Paul (Gal. iii. 10) inferreth there is no justification
by the law, and urgeth the text according to the Septuagint.
IS'ow the Jews, to afford a latitude imto themselves, in their
copies expunged the word bo or syncategorematical term
omnis : wherein lieth the strength of the law, and of the
apostle's argument ; but the Samaritan Bible retained it
right, and answerable unto what the apostle had urged.'*

As for Christians, from whom we should expect the
exactest and most concurring account, there is also in them
a manifest disagreement, and such as is not easily recon-
ciled. For first, the Latins accord not in their account ;
to omit the calculation of the ancients, of Austin, Bede,
and others, the chronology of the moderns doth manifestly
dissent. Josephus Scaliger, wliom Helvicus seems to fol-
low, accounts the creation in 765 of the Julian period ; and
from thence unto the nativity of our SaA^our alloweth 3947
years ; but Dionysius Petavius, a learned chronologer, dis-
senteth from this compute almost forty years ; placing tlic
creatioii in the 730th of tlie Julian period, and from tlience
unto the incarnation accounteth 3983 years. For the
Greeks ; their accounts are more anomalous : for if we
recur unto ancient computes, we shall find that Clemens
Alexandrinus, an ancient father and preceptor unto Origen,
accoimted from the creation unto our Saviour, 5664 years ;
for in the first of his Sfromaticks, he collecteth the time
from Adam unto the death of Commodus to be 5858 years ;
now the death of Connnodus he placeth in the year after
Christ 194, which number deducted from the former, there
remaineth 5664. Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, accounteth
unto the nativity of Christ 5515, deducible from the like way
of compute; for in his first book adAutoIz/oJium, he accounteth
from Adam unto Aurelius Verus 5695 years ; now that
emperor died in the year of our Lord 180, which deducted
from the former sum, there remaineth 5515. Julius Afri-

* the Samaritan, tf'c] It is also preserved in six MSS. in the collec-
tions of Dr. Kennicott, and De Rossi, L several copies of the Chaldee
Targum, and in the LXX. — Jtff.

CHAP, r.] THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD. ]09

canus, an ancient chronologer, accounteth somewhat less,
that is, 5500. Eusebius, Orosius, and others dissent not
much from this, but all exceed five thousand.

The latter compute of the Greeks, as Petavius observeth,
hath been reduced unto two or three accounts. The fii'st
accounts unto our Saviour 5501, and this hath been ob-
served by Nicephorus, Theophanes, and Maximus. Tht
other accounts 5509 ; and this of all at present is generally
received by the church of Constantinople, observed also by
the Moscovite, as I have seen in the date of the emperor's
letters ; wherein this year of ours, 1645, is from the year
of the world 7154, which doth exactly agree unto this last
account 5509 : for if unto that sum be added 1645, the
product will be 7154 ; by this chronology are many Greek
authors to be undei'stood : and thus is Martinus Crusius to
be made out, when in his Turco-grecian history lie delivers,
the city of Constantinople was taken by the Turks in the
year (ttOEci that is, 6961 . Now according unto these chrono-
logists, the prophecy of Elias the rabbin, so much in request
with the Jews, and in some credit also with Christians, that
the world should last but six thousand years ; unto these
I say, it hath been long and out of memory disproved ; for
the sabbatical and 7000th year wherein the world should
end (as did the creation on the seventh day) mito them is
long ago expired ; they are proceeding in the eighth thou-
sandth year, and numbers exceeding those days which men
have made the types and shadows of these. But certainly
what Marcus Leo the Jew conceiveth of the end of the
heavens, exceedeth the account of all that ever shall
be ; for though he conceiveth the elemental frame shall end
in the seventh or sabbatical millenary, yet cannot he opi-
nion tlie heavens and more durable part of the creation
shall perish before seven times seven or forty-nine, that is,
the quadrant of the other seven, and perfect jubilee of
thousands.^

* Marcus Leo the Jeto.] The text convinceth this dotage of the Jew :
St. Paule sayd loOO years agoe, that the ends of the world were then
coming, which was spoken not of hundreds of yeares but of thousands.
Yf then Christ were borne in the 4000th yeare of the world, as the late
learned Armachanus (Abp. Usher) opines (not without excellent and
undeniable reasons easie to bee made good), wee must divide the age of

110 THE BEGINNIJfG OF THE WOULD. [bOOK VI.

Thus may we observe the difference and wide dissent of
men's opinions, and thereby the great incertainty in this
establishment. The Hebrews not only dissenting from the
Samaritans, the Latins from the Greeks, but every one
from another. Insomuch that all can be in the right it
is impossible that any one is so, not with assiu'anee deter-
minable. And therefore, as Petavius confesseth, to effect
the same exactly without inspiration, it is impossible, and
beyond the arithmetick of any but God himself. And
therefore also, what satisfaction may be obtained from
those violent disputes, and eager enquiries, in what day of
the mouth the world began, either of March or October ;
likewise in what face or position of the moon, whether at
the prijne or full, or soon after, let our second and serious
considerations determine.

Now the reason and ground of this dissent is the im-
happy difference between the Greek and Hebrew editions
of the bible, for unto these two languages have all transla-
tions conformed ; the Holy Scripture being first delivered
in Hebrew, and first translated into Greek. For the
Hebrew ; it seems the primitive and surest text to rely on,
and to preserve the same entire and uncorrupt there hath
been used the highest caution humanity coidd invent.
For, as H. Ben Maimon hath declared, if in the copying
thereof one letter were written twice, or if one letter but
touched another, that copy was not admitted into their
synagogues, but only allowable to be read in schools
and private families. Neither were they careful only in
the exact number of their sections of the law, but had also
the curiosity to number every word, and affixed the account
unto their several books. Notwithstanding all which, divers
corruptions ensued, and several depravations slipt in,
arising from many and manifest grounds, as hath been
exactly noted by Morinus in his preface unto the Sep-
tuagint.

the world into 3 partes. The beginning of the world must bee counted
as the first 2000 yeares : the midste 4000 : and the end 6000 or perhaps
not soe much : for our Saviour sayes evidently there shall be an abbre-
viation, viz., in the last parte ; but when that shall bee Deus novit. — Wr.
Our Lord's prediction is usually applied to the destruction of Jeru-
aaiem.

CHAP. I.J THE BEGINNIKG OF TUE WOELD. Ill

As for the Septuagiut, it is the first and most ancient
translation ; and of greater antiquity than the Chaldee ver-
sion ; occasioned by the request of Ptolemeus Philadelphua
king of Egypt, for the ornament of his memorable library,
unto whom the high priest addressed six Jews out of every
tribe, which amounteth unto 72 ; and by these was effected
that translation we usually term the Septuagint, or transla-
tion of seventy. "Which name, however it obtain from the
number of their persons, yet in respect of one common spirit,
it was the translation but as it were of one man ; if, as the
story relateth, although they were set apart and severed
froui each other, yet were their translations found to agree in
every point, according as is related by Philo and Josephus ;
although we find not the same in Aristfeas,* who hath ex-
pressly treated thereof. But of the Greek compute there
have passed some learned dissertations not many years ago,
wherein the learned Isaac Vossius* makes the nativity of the
world to anticipate the common account one thousand four
hundred and forty years.

This translation in ancient times was of great authority.
By this many of the heathens received some notions of the
creation and the mighty works of God. This in express
terms is often followed by the evangelists, by the apostles,
and by our Saviour himself in the quotations of the Old
Testament. This for many years was used by the Jews
themselves, that is, such as did Hellenize and dispersedly
dwelt out of Palestine with the Greeks ; and this also the
succeeding Christians and ancient fathers observed ; although
there succeeded other Greek versions, that is, of Aquila,
Theodosius, and Symmachus. Por the Latin translation of
Jerome called now the vulgar, was about 800 years after
the Septuagint ; although there was also a Latin translation
before, called the Italic version, which was after lost upon
the general reception of the translation of Jerome. Which
notwithstanding (as he himself acknowledgethf) had been
needless, if the Septuagint copies had remained pure, and as

* Aristceas ad Philociatorem de 7'2 interpi-etihus.
t Prcefat. in Paralipom.

* Isaac Vossius.] He contended for the inspiration of the Septua*
Rint. — Jeff.

112 THE BEGINNING OF THE "WOEl/D. [BOOK VT.

they were first translated. But (beside that different copies
were used, that Alexandria and Egypt followed the copy of
Hesychius, Antiocli and Constantinople that of Lucian the
martyr, and others that of Origen) the Septuagint was much
depraved, not only from the errors of scribes, and the emer-
gent corruptions of time, but malicious contrivance of the
Jews ; as Justin Martyr hath declared in his learned dia-
logue with Tryphon, and Morinus* hath learnedly shown
from many confii-mations7

"Whatsoever interpretations there have been since have
been especially eftected with reference unto these, that is, the
Greek and Hebrew text ; the translators sometimes follow-
ing the one, sometimes adhering imto the other, according
as they found them consonant unto truth, or most corre-
spondent unto the rules of faith. IS^ow, however it cometh
to pass, these two are very different in the enumeration of
genealogies, and particular accounts of time : for in the
second interval, that is, between the flood and Abraham,
there is by the Septuagint introduced one Cainan^ to be the
son of Arphaxad and father of Salah ; whereas in the Hebrew
there is no mention of such a person, but Arphaxad is set
down to be the father of Salah. But in the first interval,
that is, from the creation unto the flood, their disagreement
is more considerable ; for therein the Greek exceedeth the
Hebrew and common account almost 600 years. And 'tis
indeed a thing not very strange, to be at the difference of a
third part, in so large and collective an account, if we con-
sider how differently they are set forth in minor and less
mistakable numbers. So in the prophecy of Jonah, both in
the Hebrew and Latin text, it is said, " Yet forty days and
Nineveh shall be overthro-mi ; " but the Septuagint saith
plainl}', and tliat in letters at length, Tpe'iQ //yutpac, that is,

* De Hebroei et Greed tcxtus sinceritate.

' wMcli was after lost, ttr.] Tliis concluding sentence was first added
in the 2nd edition.

* Cainan.l How this second Cainan was foisted into the translation
of the Septuagint, see that learned tract in Gregoi-ye's Postkuma, p. 77,
which hee calls Kawdv cti'Ttpog. Hoe [meaning Sir Thomas] might
have called him '^'fvfoicaii'ov ; which had been most satable to this
learned worke, of discovering comon errors. — Wr.

See also Dr. Hales's New Analt/sis, vol. i. pp. 90 — 94.

CHAP. 1.] THE BEGINNING OF THl; WORLD. 113

" Yet three days and Nineveh shall be destroyed." Which
is a difference not newly crept in, but an observation very
ancient, discussed by Austin and Theodoret, and was con-
ceived an error committed by the scribe.^ Men therefore
have raised different computes of time, according as they have
followed their different texts ; and so have left the history
of times far more perplexed than chronology hath reduced.

Again, however the texts were plain, and might in their
numerations agree, yet were there no small difficulty to set
down a determinable chronology or establish from hence any
fixed point of time. For the doubts concerniug the time of
the judges are inexplicable ; that of the reigns and succes-
sion of kings is as perplexed ; it being uncertain whether
the years both of tlieir lives and reigns ought to be taken as
complete, or in then" beginning and but current accoimts.
Nor is it vuireasonable to make some doubt whether in the
first ages and long lives of our fathers, Moses doth not some-
time account by full and round numbers, whereas strictly
taken they might be some few years above or under : as in
the age of Noah, it is delivered to be just five hundred when
he begat Sem ; whereas perhaps he might be somewhat
above or below that roimd and complete number. For the
same way of speech is usual in divers other expressions :
I thus do we say the Septuagint, and using the full and arti-
! culate number, do write the translation of seventy ; whereas
I we have shown before the precise number was seventy-two.-
1 So is it said that Christ was three days in the grave ; accord-
j ing to that of Matthew, " As Jonas was three days and three
' nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three
, days and three nights in the heart of the earth :" which not-
1 withstanding must be taken synecdochically, or by xmder-
\ standing a part for a whole day ; for he remained but two
' nights in the grave : for he was buried in the afternoon of
I the first day, and arose very early in the morning on the
! third ; that is, he was interred in the eve of the sabbath, and
I arose the morning after it.^

^ scribe.] Writing y for jx, which might easily bee, not in the origi
naJ, but in the second transcript. — Wr.

' after it.] Before day : the whole being scarce .34 houres while he
was in the grave, which is not the one halfe of three days and three
nights, nor can be salved synechdochicallye.

TOL. 11. I

114 THE BEaiNNTNG OF THE WOELB. [bOOK VI.

Moreover, although the number of years be determined
and rightly understood, and there be without doubt a certain

'Tis strange to see how all the nation of expositors, since Christe, as
yf they were infected with a disease of supinity, thinke they have
abundantly satisfied the texte, by telling us, that speech of Christe
comparinge himself to Jonas, must be understood synechdochically,
which is : 1. not only a weak interpretation ; 2. but ridiculous to Jews,
Turks, and Infidels ; 3. and consequently derogatory to the trueth ;
who expressly puts in the reddition, 3 dayes and 3 nights, by an em-
phaticail expression. Which as itt was punctually fortold, the express
time of 3 dayes and 3 nights ; soe itt was as punctually performed
(usque ad apices) for as Jonas was 3 days and 3 nights in the whale,
which admits noe synechdoche ; soe the sonn of man was in the grave 3
dayes and 3 nights without any abatement of a moment. That which
begat this error was, a mistake of the dayes and nights, spoken ol
Jonas. And from thence not only unwan-antably but untnily applyed
to Christ's stay in the grave. Wee must therefore distinguish of dayes
and nights, and take them either in Moses' sense, for the whole revo-
lution of the 0 to the eastern pointe after 24 houres : which most men
by like contagion of error, call the natural day, wheras itt is rather to
bee cald artificiall, as being compounded of a day and a night, wheras
the night is properly noe parte univocall of a day, but a contradistinct
member thereto. Now in this sense yf the days and nights bee con-
ceived ; itt is impossible to make good the one halfe of 3 dayes and 3
nights by any figurative or synechdochical sense : for from the time of
his enterring, very neer 6 at even on Friday to 6 at even on Saturday
are but 24 houres : to which adde from 6 at even to 3 or 4 next mome
(for itt was yet darke, when Mary Magd. came and saw the stone re-
mooved), viz. 10 houres more, they will make in all but thirty foure
houres, that is but 1^ day and night of equinoctial revolution. Or
else in our Saviour's sense, Jo. xi. 9, where by the day Christe under-
stands, the very day-light, or natural day, caused by the presence of
the sun ; to the which night is always opposed as contradistinct, as is
manifest from that very place. For as itts alwayes midday directly
imder the 0, soe there is midnight alwayes opposite to midnoone
through the world. And these 2 have runn opposite round the world,
simul et. semel every 24 houres since the creation, and soe shall doe,
while time shall bee noe more. I say therefore that thoughe in respect
of Jesus' grave in the garden he lay but 36 houres in the earthe, yet in
respect of the world for which he suS'ered, there were 3 distincte dayes
and nights actually in being, while hee lay in the bowels of the earthe
(which IS to be distinctly noted to justifie of him, who did not, could not,
iequivocate) : Friday night in Judaea, and a day opposite therto in the
other hemisphere, just 12 houres ; Saturday 12 houres in Judtea, and
the opposite night 12 hours ; Saturday night in Judaea, and the oppo-
site day elsewhere at the same time. And hee that denyes this, hath
lost his sense : for I ask were there not actually 3 essentiall dayes and
3 nights {sitb coelo) during his sepulture. And yf this cannot be denyed

CHAP. I.] THE BEGINNTHa Or THE WORLD. 115

truth herein, yet the text speaking obscurely or dubiously,
there is ofttimes no slender difficulty at what point to begin
or terminate the account. So when it is said, Exod. xii., the
sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was
430 years, it cannot be taken strictly, and from their first
arrival into Egypt, for their habitation in that land was far

by any but a madman, I aske againe did Christe suffer for Judaea only,
or for the whole world ? least of all for Judaea, which for his unjust
death was exterminate and continues accursed. Soe that henceforth
wee shall need no synechdoche to make good the prophetick speech of
him that could not lie : who sayde, sic erit Pilius hominis in corde terrcB
tribus diebus et trihits noctibus : and this was truly fulfilled usque ad
momenta, and therefore I dare believe it, and noe Jew or Turk can con-
tradict itt. (Hee that made the several natures of day and night in
this sense ; sayd hee would lye in the grave 3 of these dayes and 3
nights.) — Wr.

This is ingenious, and to its author it seems abundantly satisfactory,
proceeding on the hypothesis that as our Lord suffered for the whole
world, the duration of his suffering must be understood with reference
to the whole earth. The Dean adds to the two nights and one day
which elapsed in Palestine, — the corresponding two days and one night,
which elapsed at the antipodes of Judea. But this is liable to objection.
It is just as truly synechdochical as the interpretation of Sir Thomas : —
only that it takes two points on the earth's surface instead of one for the
whole. Besides the ingenuity is needless. The Jews were in the habit
of speaking synechdochically in that very respect that they speak of each
part of a day and night (or of 24 hours) as a day and night — vvKOt^jxipa.
So that if Jonah was in the deep during less than 48 hours, provided
that period comprised, in addition to one entire 24 hours, a portion of
the preceding and of the following 24 hours, — then the Jews would say
that he had been in the deep 3 day-nights or 3 days and 3 nights. As if
we should say of a person who had left home on Fiiday afternoon and
returned on Sunday morning, that he was from home Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday — this might be thought to imply considerable portions of
the day of Friday and of Sunday — but certainly it would not be necessary
to the accuracy of such a report that he should have started immediately
after midnight of Thursday, and I'eturned at the same hour on Sunday.
And yet he would otherwise not have been from home on Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday — but only during parts of those days. With the Jews com-
mon parlance would only require that our Redeemer should have been in
the heart of the earth, from the eve of the (Jewish) sabbath, however late,
to the morning of the first day, however early, in order to justify the
terms in which they would universally have spoken of the duration of
his abode there — -as comprising three days and three nights. We
may observe too, that three days are uniformly spoken of as the time of
our Lord's abode in the grave, whether it is spoken of typically or
literally. Thus he says of himself, " I do cures to-day and to-morrow,
and the third day I am perfected."

i2

116 THE BEGINKING OF THE WOELD, [BOOK TI.

less ; but the account must begin from the covenant of God
with Abraham, and must also comprehend their sojourn in
the land of Canaan, according as is expressed Gal. iii., " The
covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law which was 430 years after cannot disannul." Thus hath
it also happened in the account of the seventy years of their
captivity, according to that of Jeremy, " This whole land
shall be a desolation, and these nations shall serve the king
of Babylon seventy years."* Now where to begin or end
this compute, ariseth no small difficulty ; for there were three
remarkable captivities and deportations of the Jews. The
first was in the third or fourth year of Joachim, and first of
Nabuchodonozor, when Daniel was carried away ; the second
in the reign of Jeconiah, and the eighth year of the same
king ; the third and most deplorable in the reign of Zede-
chias, and in the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonozor,
whereat both the temple and city were burned. Now such
is the different conceit of these times, that men have com-
puted from aU ; but the probablest account and most con-
cordant mito the intention of Jeremy is from the first of
Nabuchodonozor unto the first of King Cyrus over Babylon ;
although the prophet Zachary accoimteth from the last. " O
Lord of hosts, how long ! wilt thou not have mercy on Jeru-
salem, against which thou hast had indignation these three-
score and ten years ?"t for he maketh this expostulation in
the second year of Darius Hystaspes, wherein he prophesied,
which is about eighteen years in account after the other.

Thus also although there be a certain truth therein, yet
is there no easy doubt concerning the seventy weeks, or
seventy times seven years of Daniel ; whether they have
reference unto the nativity or passion- of otu" Saviour, and

* Chap. XX. t Chap. i. 12.

' nativity or passion.] The learned thinke they have reference [that
is of their determination] to neither of them. For most of the learned
conceive, that those 70 weeks, or seven times seventy [viz. 490 years]
ended with the destruction of the citye ; which was 70 yeares after the
nativitye, and 38 after the passion of Christe : and then 'twill bee noe
hard matter to compute the pointe from whence those 490 yeares must
bee supposed to. begin : which wee shal find to bee in the 6th yeare of
Darius Nothus ; at what time the temple being finished by Artaxerxea
commauiid, formerly given Ao. Eegni 20°. the commaund for the build*

CHAP. 1.] THE BEGINNING OE THE WOELD. 117

especially from whence or what point of time they are to be
computed. For thus it is delivered by the angel Glabriel :
" Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people ;" and again
in the following verse : "Know therefore and understand, that
from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to
build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the prince, shall be seven
weeks, and threescore and two weeks, the street shall be
built again, and the wall even in troublesome times ; and
after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut ofT."^
Now the going out of the commandment, to build the city,
being the point from whence to compute, there is no slender
controversy when to begin. For there are no less than four
several edicts to this effect, the one in the first year of
Cyrus,'* the other in the second of Darius, the third and
fourth in the seventh and in the twentieth of Artaxerxes
Longimanus : although as Petavius accounteth, it best ac-
cordeth unto the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, from whence
Nehemiah deriveth his commission. Now that computes
are made uncertainly with reference unto Christ, it is no
wonder, since I perceive the time of his nativity is in con-
troversy, and no less his age at his passion. For Clemens
and Tertullian conceive he suffered at thirty ; but Irenseus

ing of Jerusalem also was given by thLs Darius Nothus, Ao. Mundi 3532,
which agrees exactlye with Scaliger's irrefragable computation. But to
see this diiiicult question fully decided, and in a few lines, I can give no
such direction, as that which Gregorye hath lately given us in his excel-
lent tract de jEris et Epochh, cap. xi. which was publisht this last year
1649, and is a work worthye of a diligent reader. — Wr.

On referring to Rev. T. H. Home's analytical view of Daniel, I find
the following brief summary of this period. Its commencement " i.s
fixed (Dan. ix. 25) to the time when the order was issued for rebuilding
the temple in the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes (Ezra vii. 11),
seven weeks, or forty-nine years, was the temple in building (Dan. ix.
25) ; sixty-two weeks, or four hundred and thirty-four years more, bring
us to the public manifestation of the Messiah, at the beginning of John
the Baptist's preaching ; and one prophetic week or seven years, added
to this, will bring us to the time of our Saviour's passion, or the thirty-
third year of the Christian jera, — in all 490 years." — Introduction, <5cc.
vol. iv. p. 1, ch. vi. § 4.

^ Know, <fcc.] Dan. ix. 25.

< the one in the first year, <fcc.] A.M. 3419 ; 3430 ; 3492 ; 3505.— TFr,

These dates however differ from those assigned by the moat emi-
nent of our more recent chronologists.

118 THE BEGINNING OF THE WOEID. [bOOK TI.

a father nearer his time, is further oflf in his account, that is,
between forty and fifty.

Longomontanus, a late astronomer, endeavours to discover
this secret from astronomical grounds, that is, the apogeiun
of the sun ; conceiving the eccentricity invariable, and the
apogeum yearly to move one scruple, two seconds, fifty
thirds, &c. Wherefore if in the time of Hipparchus, that
is, in the year of the Julian period 4557, it was in the fifth
degree of G-emini, and in the days of Tycho Brahe, that is,
in the year of our Lord 1588, or of the world 5554, the
same was removed unto the fifth degree of Cancer ; by the
proportion of its motion, it was at the creation first in the
beginning of Aries, and the perigeum or nearest point in
Libra. But this conceit how ingenious or subtile soever, is
not of satisfaction ; it being not determinable, or yet agi'eed
in what time precisely the apogeum absolveth one degree, as
Petavius* hath also delivered.

Lastly, however these or other difficulties intervene, and
that we cannot satisfy ourselves in the exact compute of time,
yet may we sit down with the common and usual account ;
nor are these difierences derogatory imto the advent or pas-
sion of Christ, unto which indeed they all do seem to point,
for the prophecies concerning our Saviour were indefinitely
delivered before that of Daniel ; so was that pronounced
imto Eve in Paradise, that after of Balaam, those of Isaiah
and the prophets, and that memorable one of Jacob, " the
sceptre shall not depart from Israel imtil Shilo come ;" which
time notwithstanding it did not define at all. In what year
therefore soever, either from the destruction of the temple,
from the re-edifying thereof, from the flood, or from the
creation, he appeared, certain it is, that in the fulness of
time he came. When he therefore came, is not so consider-
able as that he is come : in the one there is consolation, in
the other no satisfaction. The greater query is, when he will
come again ; and yet indeed it is no query at all ; for that
is never to be known, and therefore vainly enquired : 'tis a
professed and authentick obscurity, luiknown to all but to
the omniscience of the Almighty. Certainly the ends of
things are wrapt up in the hands of God, he that undertakes

* Dc Doctrina Temporum, L 4.

CHAP. II.] THE BEGINNING OF THE WOELD. 119

the knowledge thereof forgets his own beginning, and dis-
claims his principles of earth. No man knows the end of the
world, nor assuredly of any thing in it : God sees it, because
unto his eternity it is present ; he knoweth the ends of us,
but not of himself; and because he knows not this, he
knoweth all things, and his knowledge is endless, even in the
object of himself.

CHAPTER II.

Of Men's Enquiries in what season or point of the Zodiack it began, that,
as they are generally made, they are in vain, and as particularly,
uncertain.

CoNCEENiNG the seasons, that is, the quarters of the year
some are ready to enquire, others to determine, in what
season, whether in the autumn, spring, winter, or summer,
the world had its beginning. Wherein we afiirm, that, as
the question is generally and in respect of the whole earth
proposed, it is with manifest injury unto reason in any
particular determined ; because whenever the world had its
beginning it was created in all these four. For, as we have
elsewhere delivered, whatsoever sign the sun possesseth
(whose recess or vicinity defineth the quarters of the year)
those four seasons were actually existent ; it being the nature
of that luminary to distinguish the several seasons of the
year ; all which it maketh at one time in the whole earth, and
successively in any part thereof.'* Thus if we suppose the
sun created in Libra, in which sign unto some it maketh
autumn ; at the same time it had been winter unto the north-
ern pole, for unto them at that time the sun beginneth to be
invisible, and to show itself again unto the pole of the south.
Unto the position of a right sphere, or directly under the
equator, it had been summer ; for unto that situation the

* thereof] According as he makes his access too, or recess from the
several [parts] of the earthe : now in that his accesse to the one is a
recess from the other, it followes, that those from whom he partes have
their autumne, those within the tropicks, over whose heads he passes,
have their summer, and those on the other side beyond the tropicke
towards whome hee goes have their new spring beginning in exchange
of their former, causd by his absence. — Wr.

120 THE BEGINNING OF TUE WOULD. [uOOK VI.

sun is at that time vertical. TJnto the latitude of Capricorn,
or the winter solstice, it had been spring ; for vmto that
position it had been in a middle point, and that of ascent, or
approximation ; but unto the latitude of Cancer, or the sum-
mer solstice, it had been autumn ; for then had it been placed
in a middle point, and that of descent, or elongation.

And if we shall take literally what Moses describeth po-
pularly, this was also the constitution of the first day. Por
when it was evening unto one longitude, it was morning unto
another ; when night unto one, day unto another. And there-
fore that question, whether our Saviour shall come again in
the twdight (as is conceived he arose) or whether he shall
come upon us in the night, according to the comparison of
a thief, or the Jewish tradition, that he will come about the
time of their departure out of Egypt, when they ate the
passover, and the angel passed by the doors of their houses ;
this query, I say, needeth not fiu-ther dispute. For if the
earth be almost every where inhabited, and his coming (as
divinity affirmeth) must needs be unto aU ; then must the
time of his appearance be both in the day and niglit. For
if unto Jerusalem, or what part of the world soever he shall
appear in the night, at the same time unto the antipodes it
must be day ; if twilight unto them, broad day unto the
Indians ; if noon unto them, yet night unto the Americans ;
and so with variety according unto various habitations, or
different positions of the sphere, as wUl be easily conceived
by those who understand the affections of different habita-
tions, and the conditions of Antoeci, Perioeci, and Antipodes.
And so, although he appear in the night, yet may the day of
judgment, or doomsday, weU retain that name ;* for that im-
plieth one revolution of the sun, which maketh the day and
night, and that one natm-al day. And yet, to speak strictly,
if (as the apostle affirmeth) we shaU be changed in the
twinkling of an eye,^ and (as the schools determine) the

* 'SvxBrjupov.

* twinkling, <fcc.] Taking this for granted [which noe man, dare
denye] yet it is most truly sayde, that doomes day is the last daye,
i. e. the last daye of the sons circling this lower world by his daylye
course : which as itt hath [in itt selfe] noe rising or settinge, but
caryeth the daye and midnoone always directly under him round the
world perpetuallye : see in what parte of the world that course shall

CHAP. II.] THE BEGINNING OP THE WOELD. 121

destruction of the world shall not be successive but in an
instant, we cannot properly apply thereto the usual distino*
tions of time ; calling that twelve hours, which admits not
the parts thereof, or use at all the name of time, when the
nature thereof shall perish.

But if the enquiry be made unto - a particular place, and
the question determined imto some certain meridian ; as,
namely, unto Mesopotamia,^ wherein the seat of Paradise is
presumed, tlie query becomes more reasonable, and is indeed
in nature also determinable. Yet positively to define that
season, there is no slender difficulty ; for some contend that
it began in the spring ; as (beside Eusebius, Ambrose, Bede,
and Theodore t), some few years past, Henrico Philippi in
his chronology of the Scripture. Others are altogether for
autumn ; and from hence do our chronologers commence
their compute, as may be observed in Helvicus, Jo. Scaliger,
Cahisius, and Petavius.^

bee determind [and the day therewith] is noe waye considerable, and
much lease in what parte of tlie daye of 24 houres, that sodaine instant]
of change shall bee ; which of necessity must bee to some inhabitants of
the world at the time of his risinge, to others at midnoone, to others
at his sittinge, and to others at midnight : for all these are all at once,
and in the very same instant, every day, in several partes of the worlde :
as for example ; in April when tis midday at London ; 'tis just sonrise
at Virginia ; and just sonset at the hithermost partes of Nova
Guinea, and yet itt is the same daye to all these three parcels of the
world at once. But when that greate doome shall come, the course of
the son shall instantly cease, and consequently the natural and usual
course of day and night with itt : yet there shall bee noe want of lighte
in that parte of the aire, or that parte of the earthe under the place,
where the sonn of man shall call the world before his judgment-seate ;
unless any man bee soe simple to thinke that in the presence of God
there shall be lesse light then in the presence of the son. — Wr.

^ Mesopotamia.] Most thinke the valley of Jehosaphat. — Wr.

The valley of Jehoshaphat was situated eastward of Jerusalem,
between that city and the Mcv nt of Olives ; and through which ran the
brook Kedron : — Mesopotamia was a province between the Euphrates
and Tigris.

' Petra/vius.] And yet itt must bee confest, that the spring, or sonna
entrance into Aries is verum caput et naturale PHncip)ium Anni, renew-
ing and reviving all things, as of old in Paradise, asqualling dayes and
nights in all places, within the pole circles especially : and as to this all
astronomers agree, soe, consonant thereto, all geographers consent, that
Paradise was neere under the ^quinoctiall, or on this side of itt, undei
rise of the spring with tie sonn. — Wr,

122 THE DIVISIONS OF THE SEASONS. FbOOK VI.

CHAPTER III.

Of the Divisions of the Seasons and Four Quarters of the Year, according
unto Astronomers and Physicians; that the common compute of the
Ancients, and which is still retained by some, is very questionable.

As for the divisions of tlie year, and the quartering out
this remarkable standard of time, there have passed especially
two distinctions. The first in frequent use with astronomers
according to the cardinal intersections of the zodiack, that is,
the two equinoctials and both the solstitial points, defijiing
that time to be the spring of the year, wherein the sun doth
pass from the equinox of Aries imto the solstice of Cancer ;
the time between the solstice and the equinox of Libra,
summer ; from thence unto the solstice of Capricomus, au-
tumn; and from thence unto the equinox of Aries again,
winter. Now this division, although it be regvdar and equal,
is not universal ; for it includeth not those latitudes which
have the seasons of the year double ; as have the inhabitants
under the equator, or else between the tropicks. For unto
them the sun is vertical twice a year, making two distinct
simimers in the different points of verticaUty. So unto
those which live under the equator, when the sun is in the
equinox, it is summer, in which points it maketh spring or
autumn unto us ; and unto tliem it is also winter when the
sun is in either tropick, whereas unto us it maketh always
summer in the one. And the like will happen unto those
habitations, which are between the tropicks and the equator.

A second and more sensible division there is observed by
Hippocrates, and most of the ancient Greeks, according to
the rising and setting of divers stars ; dividing the year, and
establishing the account of seasons from usual alterations,
and sensible mutations in the air, discovered upon tlie rising
and setting of those stars : accounting the spring from the
equinoctial point of Aries ; from the rising of the Pleiades,
or the several stars on the back of Taurus, summer ; from
the rising of Arcturus, a star between the thighs of Boetes,
autiunn ; and from the setting of the Pleiades, winter. Of
these divisions, because they were unequal, they were fain to
subdivide the two larger portions, that is, of the summer and

CHAP. III.] THE DIVISIONS OF THE SEASONS. 123

Winter quarters ; the first part of the summer they named
^t'pof, the second unto the rising of the dog-star, upa, from
thence unto the setting of Arcturus, oTrwpa. The winter
they divide also into three parts ; the first part, or that of
seed-time, they named (nropsrov, the middle or proper winter,
■XtijXMv, the last, which was their planting or grafting time,
(pvTciXiay. This way of division was in former ages received,
is very often mentioned in poets, translated from one nation
to another ; from the Greeks unto the Latins, as is received
by good authors ; and delivered by physicians, even unto
onr times.

Now of these two, although the first in some latitude may
be retained, yet is not the other in any way to be admitted.
For in regard of time (as we elsewhere declare) the stars
do vary their longitudes, and consequently the times of their
ascension and descension. That star which is the term of
numeration, or point from whence we commence the account,
altering his site and longitude in process of time, and re-
moving from west to east, almost one degree in the space of
seventy-two years, so that the same star, since the age of
Hippocrates, who used this account, is removed in conse-
quentia about twenty-seven degrees. Which difierence of
their longitudes doth much diversify the times of their
ascents, and rendereth the account unstable which shall
proceed thereby.

Again, in regard of different latitudes, this cannot be a
settled rule, or reasonably applied unto many nations. For,
whereas the setting of the Pleiades, or seven stars, is de-
signed the term of autumn, and the beginning of winter,
unto some latitudes these stars do never set, as unto all
beyond 67 degrees. And if in several and far distant lati-
tudes we observe the same star as a common term of account
unto both, we shall fall upon an unexpected, but an unsuffer-
able absurdity ; and by the same account it will be summer
unto us in the north, before it be so unto those, which unto
us are southward, and many degrees approaching nearer the
sun. For if we consult the doctrine of the sphere, and ob-
serve the ascension of the Pleiades, which maketh the begin-
ning of summer, we shall discover that in the latitude of 40
these stars arise in the 16th degree of Taurus, but in the
latitude of 50, they ascend in the eleventh degree of the

124 THE DITISIONS OF THE SEASONS. [BOOK VI.

same sign, that is, five days sooner ; so shall it be summer
uuto London, before it be unto Toledo, and begin to scorch
in England, before it grow hot in Spain.

This is therefore no general way of compute, nor reason-
able to be derived from one nation unto another ; the defect
of which consideration hath caused divers errors in Latin
poets, translating these expressions from the Greeks ; and
many difificulties even in the Greeks themselves, which, living
in divers latitudes, yet observed the same compute. So that,
to make them out, we are fain to use distinctions ; some-
times computing cosmically what they intended hehacally,
and sometimes in the same expression accounting the rising
heliacally, the setting cosmically. Otherwise it will be
hardly made out, what is delivered by approved authors ;
and is an observation very considerable unto those which
meet with such expressions, as they are very frequent in the
poets of elder times, especially Hesiod, Aratus, Virgil, Ovid,
Manilius, and authors geoponical, or which have treated de
re rustica, as Constantino, Marcus Cato, Columella, Palla-
dius, and Varro.

Lastly, the absurdity in making common unto many na-
tions those considerations whose verity is but particular unto
some, will more evidently appear, if we examine the rules
and precepts of some one climate, and fall upon consider-
ation with what incongruity they are transferable unto
others.

Thus it is advised by Hesiod : —

Pleiadibus Atlante natis orientibus

Incipe Messem, Arationem vero occidentibus, —

implying hereby the heliacal ascent and cosmical descent of
those stars. Now herein he setteth down a rule to begin
harvest at the arise of the Pleiades ; which in his time was
in the beginning of May. This u^deed was consonant unto
the clime wherein he lived, and their harvest began about
that season ; but is not appliable unto our own, for therein
we are so far from expecting an harvest, that our barley-
seed is not ended. Again, correspondent unto the rule of
Hesiod, Virgil aftbrdeth another : —

Ante tibi Eok Atlantides abscondantur,
Debita quam sulcis committas semina, —

CHAP. III.] THE DIVISIONS OF THE SEASONS. 125

understanding hereby their cosmical descent, or their setting
when the sun ariseth ; and not their hehacal obscuration,
or their inclusion in the lustre of the sun, as Servius
upon this place would have it ; for at that time these stars
are many signs removed from that luminary. Now herein
he strictly adviseth, not to begin to -sow before the setting
of these stars ; which notwithstanding, without injury to
agriculture cannot be observed in England ; for they set
unto us about the 12th of November, when our seed-time is
almost ended.

And this diversity of clime and celestial observations, pre-
cisely observed unto certain stars and months, hath not only
overthroNrn the deductions of one nation to another, but
hath perturbed the observation of festivities and statary
solemnities, even with the Jews themselves. For unto them
it was commanded, that at their entrance into the land of
Canaan, in the fourteenth of the first month (that is Abib or
Nisan, which is spring with us), they should observe the
celebration of the passover ; and on the morrow after, which
is the fifteenth day, the feast of unleavened bread ; and in
the sixteenth of the same month, that they should offer the
first sheaf of the harvest. Now all this was feasible and of
an easy possibility in the land of Canaan, or latitude of
Jerusalem ; for so it is observed by several authors in later
times ; and is also testified by Holy Scriptiu-e in times very
far before.* For when the children of Israel passed the river
Jordan, it is delivered by way of parenthesis, that the river
overfloweth its banks in the time of harvest ; which is con-
ceived the time wherein they passed ; and it is after delivered,
that in the fourteenth day they celebrated the passover : f
which according to the law of Moses, was to be observed in
the first month, or month of Abib.

And therefore it is no wonder, what is related by Luke,
that the disciples upon the deioteroproton, as they passed by,
plucked the ears of corn. For the deideroproton or second
first sabbath, was the first sabbath after the deutera or second
of the passover, which was the sixteenth of Nisan or Abib.
And this is also evidenced from the received construction
of the first and latter rain : " I will give you the raiu of your

* Josh. iii. "t" Josh. v.

126 THE DITISIONS OF THE SEASONS. [bOOK VI.

land in his due season, tbe first rain and the latter rain :"*
for the first rain fell upon the seed-time about October, and
was to make the seed to root ; the latter was to fill the ear,
and fell in Abib or March, the first month : according as is
expressed, " And he will cause to come down for you the
rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month," t
that is, the month of Abib, wherein the passover was
observed. This was the law of Moses, and this in the land
of Canaan was well observed, according to the first institu-
tion : but since their dispersion, and habitation in countries,
whose constitutions admit not such tempestivity of harvests
(and many not before the latter end of summer), notwith-
standing the advantage of their lunary account, and inter-
calary month Veader, afiixed unto the beginning of the year,
there will be found a great disparity in their observations,
nor can they strictly, and at the same season with their
forefathers, observe the commands of God,

To add yet further, those geoponical rules and precepts of
agricultiu-e, which are delivered by divers authors, are not to
be generally received, but respectively understood unto climes
whereto they are determined. For whereas one adviseth to
sow this or that grain at one season, a second to set tliis or
that at another, it must be conceived relatively, and every
nation must have its country farm ; for herein we may
observe a manifest and visible difference, not only in the
seasons of harvest, but in the grains themselves. For with
us barley-harvest is made after wheat-harvest, but with the
Israelites and Egyptians it was otherwise. So is it expressed
by way of prioi-ity, Euth ii. ; " So Euth kept fast by the
maidens of Boaz, to glean unto the end of barley-harvest and
of wheat-harvest ;" which in the plague of hail in Egypt is
more plainly delivered, Exod. ix. ; " And the flax and the
barley were smitten, for the barley was in the ear, and the
flax was boiled ; but the wheat and the rye were not smitten,
for they were not grown up."

And thus we see, the account established upon the arise
or descent of the stars can be no reasonable rule unto distant
nations at all ; and, by reason of their retrogression, but
temporary unto any one. Nor must these respective expres-

• Deut. xi. |- Joel ii.

CHAP. IT.] OF THE COMPUTATION OP DATS. 127

sions be entertained in .ibsolute consideration ; for ao dis-
tinct is the relation, and so artificial the habitude of this
inferior globe unto the superior, and even of one thing in
each unto the other, that general rules are dangerous, and
applications most safe that run with security of circumstance,
which rightly to effect, is beyond th6 subtilty of sense, and
requires the artifice of reason.^

CHAPTEE IV.

Of some computation of days, and deductions of one part of the year unto
another.

Fourthly, there are certain vulgar opinions concerning
days of the year, and conclusions popularly deduced from
certain days of the month ; men commonly believing the
days increase and decrease equally in the whole year ; which
notwithstanding is very repvignant unto truth. For they
increase in the mouth of March, almost as much as in the
two months of January and February : and decrease as
much in September, as they do in July and August. For
the days increase or decrease according to the decUnation of
the sun, that is, its deviation northward or southward from
the equator. Now this digression is not equal, but near the
equinoxial intersections, it is right and greater, near the
solstices more oblique and lesser. So from the eleventh of
March the vernal equinox, unto the eleventh of April, the
sun declineth to the north twelve degrees ; from the eleventh
of AprU, unto the eleventh of May, but eight ; from thence
unto the fifteenth of June, or the summer solstice, but three

° reason.] Hence itt may appeare that those rules of prognostic and
signification, which the Egyptian, Arabian, Graecian, yea, and Italian
astronomers, have given concerning the stari'S, and those clymates
wherein they lived, cannot bee applied to our remote and colder clymes,
nor to these later times (wherein the constellations of all the twelve
signes are moved eastward almost 30 degrees ; Aries into Taurus and
that into Gemini, &c.) without manifest errors and grosse deceptions,
and are therefore of late rejected by the most famous astronomers,
Tycho, Copernicus, Longomontanus, and Kepler (as diabolical impos-
tures). De Cometa Anni 1618. — Wr.

128 OF THE COMPUTATION OT DATS. [bOOKTI.

and a half : all wldch make twenty-two degrees and an half,
the greatest declination of the sun.

Aid this inequality in the declination of the sun in the
zodiack or line of life, is correspondent unto the growth or
declination of man. For setting out from infancy, we
increase, not equally, or regvdarly attain to our state or per-
fection ; nor when we descend from our state, is our decli-
nation equal, or carrieth us with even paces unto the grave.
For as Hippocrates affii'meth, a man is hottest in the first
day of his life, and coldest in the last ; his natural heat
setteth forth most vigorously at first, and decUneth most
sensibly at last. And so though the growth of man end not
perhaps untU twenty-one, yet is his stature more advanced
in the first septenary than in the second, and iu the second
more than in the third, and more indeed in the first seven
years, than in the fourteen succeeding ; for what stature we
attain unto at seven years, we do sometimes but double,
most times come short of at one and twenty. And so do
we decline again : For in the latter age upon the tropick
and first descension from our solstice, we are scarce sensible
of declination : but declining further, our decrement accele-
rates, we set apace, and in our last days precipitate into our
graves. And thus are also our progressions in the womb, that
is, our formation, motion, our birth, or exclusion. For our
formation is quickly efiected, our motion appeareth later,
and our exclusion very long after : if that be true which
Hippocrates and Avicenna have declared, that the time of
our motion is double unto that of formation, and that of
exclusion treble unto that of motion. As if the infant be
formed at thirty-five days, it moveth at seventy, and is born
the two hundred and tenth day, that is, the seventh month ;
or if it receives not formation before forty-five days, it
moveth the ninetieth day, and is excluded in the two
hundred and seventieth, that is, the ninth month.

There are also certain popular proguosticks drawn from
festivals in the calendar, and conceived opinions of certain
days in months ; so is there a general tradition in most parts
of Europe, that inferreth the coldness of succeeding ■udnter
from the shining of the sun upon Candlemas day, or the
purification of the A'irgin Mary, according to the proverbial
diatich,

OHA.P. IV.] OF THE COMPUTATION OP DATS. 129

Si Sol splendescat Marid purificante,

Major erit glacies post festum quam fuit ante.

So is it usual among us to qualify and conditionate the
twelve months of the yeai', answerable unto the temper of
the twelve days in Christmas ; and to, ascribe unto March
certain borrowed days from Aprd, all which men seem to
believe upoii annual experience of their ovm, and the
received traditions of their forefathers.

Now it is manifest, and most men likewise know, that the
calendars of these computers, and the accounts of these days
are very different : the Greeks dissenting from the Latins,
and the Latins from each other : the one observing the
Julian or ancient account, as Great Britain and part of
Germany ; the other adhering to the Gregorian or new
account, as Italy, France, Spain, and the LTnited Provinces
of the Netherlands. Now this latter account, by ten days
at least, anticipateth the other; so that before the one
beginneth the account, the other is past it ; yet in the
several calculations, the same events seem true, and men
with equal opinion of verity, expect and confess a confirma-
tion from them aU. AVhereby is evident the oraculous
authority of tradition, and the easy seduction of men,^
neither enquiring into the verity of the substance, nor
reforming upon repugnance of circumstance.

And thus may divers easily be mistaken who super-
stitiously observe certain times, or set down unto themselves
an observation of unfortunate months, or days, or hours.
As did the Egyptians, two in every month, and the Romans
the days after the nones, ides, and calends. And thus the
rules of navigators must often fail, setting down, as Rhodi-
ginus observeth, suspected and ominous days in every month,
as the lirst and seventh of March, and fifth and sixth of
April, the sixth, the twelfth, and fifteenth of February. For
the accounts hereof in these months are very different in
our days, and were different with several nations in ages
I past, and how strictly soever the account be made, and even
I by the selfsame calendar, yet it is possible that navigators
I may be out. For so were the Hollanders, who passing west-

I ^ men.'] By the jugling Priests in the old mythologies of the heathen
j deytyes, trulye taxte by the poet under that " Quicquid Grcecia niemlax
I mandat in historiis. — Wr.
I VOL. II. K

130 THE SITE AKD MOTION OF THE SUN. [bOOK Tl.

ward througli /return le Mayre, and compassing the globe,
upon their return into their own country found that they
had lost a day. For if two men at the same time travel
from the same place, the one eastward, the other westward,
round about the earth, and meet in the same place from
whence they first set forth, it will so fall out that he which
hath moved eastward against the diurnal motion of the sun,
by anticipating daily something of its circle with its own
motion, will gain one day ; but he that travelleth westward,^
with the motion of the sun, by seconding its revolution, shaU
lose or come short a day ; and therefore also upon these
grounds that Delos was seated in the middle of the earth, it
was no exact decision, because two eagles let fly east and
west by Jupiter, their meeting fell out just in the island
Delos.

CHAPTEE V.

A digression of the Wisdom of God in the Site and Motion of the Sv/n.

Hating thus beheld the ignorance of man in some things,
his error and blindness in others, that is, in the measure of
duration both of years and seasons, let us awhile admire the
wisdom of God in this distiuguisher of times, and visible
deity (as some have termed it) the sun, which, though some
from its glory adore, and all for its benefits admire, we shall
advance from other considerations, and such as dlustrate the
artifice of its Maker. IS^or do we tliink we can excuse the
duty of our knowledge, if we only bestow the flourish of
poetry hereon, or those commendatory conceits which
popularly set forth the eminency of this creature, except we

' westward.] Captain Bodman, an auncient and discreete gentleraaa,
and learned, for his many services to the State, being admitted a poore
Knight at Windsor, was wout to tell mee, that at their returne from
surrounding the world with Sir Francis Drake in the yeare 1579, they
found that they lost a daye in their accomptes of their daylye saylinge,
which agrees with this excellent observation of Dr. Browne ; for their
voyage was from England to the Streits of Magellan, and soe round by
the Moluccas and Cape of Good Hope, back to England, which was
totalye with the sonne, and therefore what they observed with admira-
tion, concerning the losse of a day in their accompt, had a manifest
reason and cause to justifie the trueth of that observation, and that itt
could not possiblye bee otherwise. — Wr.

CHAP, v.] THE SITE AKU MOTIOK OE THE SUN. 131

ascend unto subtiler considerations, and such, as rightly
understood, convincingly declare the wisdom of the Creator.
Which since a Spanish physician* hath begun, we will
enlarge with our deductions, and this we shall endeavour
from two considerations, its proper situation and wisely
ordered motion.

And first, we cannot pass over his providence, in that it
moveth at all, for had it stood still, and were it fixed like
the earth, there had been then no distinction of times, either
of day or year, of spring, of autumn, of summer, or of winter ;
for these seasons are defined by the motions of the sun :
when that approacheth nearest our zenith, or vertical point,
we call it summer ; when furthest oif, winter ; when in the
middle spaces, spring or autumn ; whereas, remaining in one
place, these distinctions had ceased, and consequently the
generation of all things, depending on their vicissitudes ;
making in one hemisphere a perpetual summer, in the other
a deplorable and comfortless winter.^ And thus had it also
* Valerius de Philos. Sacr.

^ winter.] All this must of necessity evidentlye follow, unlesse (ac-
cording to the supposition of Copernicus, for I suppose it was but a
postulate of art, noe parte of his creed) that the son is fixed in the
midst or center of this universal frame of the world, altogether immoov-
able, and that the earth, with all the rest of the elements, is annually
caryed round about the sonne in the sphere between Mars and Venus,
parting that lovinge couple of godlings by its boysterous intrusion, but
the mischeef is that besides this annual motion of the earth, mounted
like Phsethon in the chariot and throne of the sonne, the Copernicans
are forced, contrary to their own principles, that tmitts corporis ccelestis
(for soe you must nowe accompte itt, though a dul and opacous planet,
unius est motus simplex), to ascribe two other motions to the earth ; the
one a vertiginous rotation, whirling about his own center, wherby
turning toward the son caixseth daye, and turning from the son, night ;
both of them every twenty-four hours ; the other a tottering motion of
inclination to the son the sommer halfe yeare, and of reclination from
the son in the halfe halfe, from whence must of necessity follow two
vast and unconcedable postulates. First, that as the son, in his old
sphere, is supposed in respect of his distance from the center to moove
noe lesse than 18,000 miles every minute of an hour, yf the earth bee in
the sons place, they must perforce acknowledge the same pernicitye in
the earth, and yet not perceptible to our sense, nor to the wisest of
the world, since the creation till our times. But to salve this, as they
thinke, they suppose and postulate the second motion of rotation or
whirling on his owne center, which others conceive to bee diametrally
opposite to Scripture : but then there recoyles upon them this strange

£2

132 THE SITE AITD MOTION OF 'iHE SUN. [bOOK Vl.

been continual day unto some, and perpetual night unto
others, for the day is defined by the abode of the sun above
the horizon, and the night by its continuance below ; so
should we have needed another sun, one to illustrate our
hemisphere, a second to enlighten the other, which incon-
venience will ensue in what site soever we place it, whether
in the poles or the equator, or between them both ; no
spherical body, of what bigness soever, illuminating the whole
sphere of another, although it illuminate something more than
half of a lesser, according unto the doctrine of the opticks.

His wisdom is again discernible, not only in that it moveth
at all, and in its bare motion, but wonderful in contriving the
line of its revolution which is so prudently effected, that by
a vicissitude in one body and light it sufiiceth the whole earth,
affording thereby a possible or pleasurable habitation in every
part thereof, and that is the line ecliptick, all which to effect
by any other circle it had been impossible. For first, if we
imagine the sun to make its course out of the ecliptick, and
upon a line without any obliquity, let it be conceived within
that circle that is either on the equator, or else on either side ;
for if we should place it either in the meridian or colures,
beside the subversion of its course from east to west, there
would ensue the like incommodities. Now if we conceive
the sun to move between the obliquity of this ecliptick in a
line upon one side of the equator, then would the sun be
visible but unto one pole, that is the same which was nearest
unto it. So that unto the one it would be perpetual day,
unto the other perpetual night ; the one would be oppressed
with constant heat, the other with insufferable cold, and so
the defect of alternation woidd utterly impugn the genera-
tion of all things, which naturally require a vicissitude of
heat to their production, and no less to their increase and
conservation.

But if we conceive it to move in the equator, first unto a
parallel sphere, or such as have the pole for their zenith, it
would have made neither perfect day nor night. Por being
in the equator it would intersect their horizon, and be half
above and half beneath it, or rather it would have made
consequence that the earthe being 21,600 miles in compass, and whirl-
ing rounde every twenty-four howres, caryes every towne and howsa
895 miles every hourc, and yet not discernablye. — Wr.

CU.VP. v.] THE SITE AND MOTION OF THE SUN. 133

perpetual night to both ; for though in regard of the rational
horizon, which bisecteth the globe into equal parts, the siui
in the equator would intersect the horizon ; yet in respect
of the sensible horizon, which is defined by the eye, the sun
would be visible unto neither. For -if, as ocular witnesses
report, and some also write, by reason of the convexity of
the earth, the eye of man under the equator cannot discover
both the poles, neither would the eye under the poles dis-
cover the sun in the equator. Thus would there nothing
fructify either near or under them, the sun being horizontal
to the poles, and of no considerable altitude unto parts a
reasonable distance from them. Again, unto a right sphere,
or such as dwell under the equator, although it made a
difference in day and night, yet would it not make any dis-
tinction of seasons ; for unto them it would be constant
summer, it being always vertical, and never deflecting from
them. So had there been no fructification at all, and the
countries subjected would be as unhabitable, as indeed
antiquity conceived them.

Lastly, it moving thus upon the equator, unto what position
soever, although it had made a day, yet could it have made
no year, for it covdd not have had those two motions ^ now

' Uvo motions.'] The motion from east to west is cald the motion of
the world, bycause by itt all the whole frame of the universe is caryeJ
round eveiy 24 howres, and among the rest of the celestial lights the
sun alsoe, to whom this motion does not belong but passively onlye, and
therefore heere was noe feare of ci-ossing that undoubted principle which
unavoydably recoyls upon the Copernicans, who to make good their hypo-
thesis, fancye a rotation of dinetical, that is, a whirlinge rapture of the
earthe about his owne axe every 24 houres, that is, 900 miles every howre,
which is more impossible then for the heaven which wee call the primum
mobile to turne about 400,000 miles eveiy houre ; unless they thinke
that he who made itt soe infinitelye vast in compasse and in distance
from us, could not make itt as swift in motion alsoe, as he makes his
angels, or has he made his owne bodye in his ascention, or as he makes
the lightning or the light itself.

The compass of the earth, which is 21,600 miles, divided by 24 leaves
in the quotient 937if i- 6. 4 of miles, and soe many the Copernicans
thinke the earth turnes every howre ; that is above 15 miles every
minute of an houre, and about ^ of a mile every second, i. e. swifter
then the natural motion of the heart. Proculdubio loca terrae sub polls
sita, nequeunt ab ajquatoris subjectis cerni : cum horison terrestris nus-
quam in ipso oceano tranquillo 60 miliarium visu tenninetur : at poloa
cceli posse ab iisdem terrre incolis simul conspici, manifestum ex rare-
factione qua sydera attollit ultra distantiam horizoutis rationalis. — Wr.

134 THE SITE AKD MOTION OF THE SUN. [boOK VI.

ascribed unto it, that is, from east to west, whereby it makes
the day, and likewise from west to east, whereby the year is
computed. For according to received astronomy, the poles
of the equator are the same with those of the primum mobile.
Now it is impossible that on the same circle,^ having the
same poles, both these motions, from opposite terms, should
be at the same time performed, all which is salved, if we allow
an obliquity in his annual motion, and conceive him to move
upon the poles of the zodiack, distant from those of the world
twenty-three degrees and an half. Thus may we discern the
necessity of its obliquity, and how inconvenient its motion
had been upon a circle parallel to the equator, or upon the
equator itself.

Now with what providence this obliquity is determined,
we shall perceive upon the ensuing inconveniences from any
deviation. For first, if its obliquity had been less (as instead
of twenty-three degrees, twelve or the half thereof) the vicis-
situde of seasons appointed for the generation of all things
would surely have been too short ; for different seasons
would have huddled upon each other, and unto some it had
not been much better than if it had moved on the equator.
But had the obliquity been greater than now it is, as double,
or of 40 degrees, several parts of the earth had not been able
to endure the disproportionable differences of seasons, occa-
sioned by the great recess, and distance of the sun. Por unto
some habitations the summer would have been extreme hot,
and the winter extreme cold ; likewise the summer temperate
unto some, but excessive and in extremity imto others, as
unto those who should dwell under the tropick of Cancer, as
then would do some part of Spain, or ten degrees beyond,
as Germany, and some part of England, who would have
summers, as now the Moors of Africa. For the sun would
sometime be vertical unto them ; but they would have winters
like those beyond the arctic circle, for in that season the sun
would be removed above 80 degrees from them. Again, it
would be temperate to some habitations in the summer, but
very extreme in the winter ; temperate to those in two or
three degrees beyond the arctic circle, as now it is unto us,
for they would be equidistant from that tropic, even as we

* circle.l Globe. — Wr.

CHAP, v.] THE SITE AND MOTION OF THE STTN, 135

are from this at present. But the winter would be extreme,
the sun being removed above an hundred degrees, and so
consequently would not be visible in their horizon, no posi-
tion of sphere discovering any star distant above 90 degrees,
which is the distance of every zenith from the horizon.
And thus, if the obliquity of this circle had been less, the
vicissitude of seasons had been so small as not to be distin-
guished ; if greater, so large and disproportionable as not to
be endured.

Now for its situation, although it held this ecliptic line, yet
bad it been seated in any other orb,* inconveniences would
ensue of condition unlike the former ; for had it been placed
in the lowest sphere of the moon, the year would have con-
sisted but of one month, for in that space of time it would
have passed through every part of the ecliptic ; so would
there have been no reasonable distinction of seasons required
for the generation and fructifying of aU things, contrary
seasons which destroy the effects of one another so suddenly
succeeding. Besides, by this vicinity unto the earth, its
heat had been intolerable ; for if, as many affirm,^ there is a
different sense of heat from the different points of its proper
orb, and that in the apogeum, or highest point, which hap-
peneth in Cancer, it is not so hot under that tropic, on this
side the equator, as unto the other side in the perigeum or
lowest part of the eccentric, which happeneth in Capri-
comus, surely, being placed in an orb far lower, its heat
would be unsufferable, nor needed we a fable to set the
world on fire.

But had it been placed in the highest orb, or that of the
eighth sphere, there had been none but Plato's year, and a
far less distinction of seasons ; for one year had then been
many, and according unto the slow revolution of that orb
which absolveth not his course in many thousand years, no
man had lived to attain the account thereof. These are the
inconveniences ensuing upon its situation in the extreme
orbs ; and had it been placed in the middle orbs of the
planets, there would have ensued absurdities of a middle
nature unto them.

* orb.] Orbit.

* as many affirm.] Especially Scaliger, in that admirable work of his
•xercitations upon Cardan de Subtilitate. Exercit. 99, § 2, p. 342. — Wr,

136 THE EAHTH BEFORE THE ElOOD. [bOOK VI.

Now whether we adhere unto the hypothesis of Coper-
nicus/ affirming the earth to move and the sun to stand
still ; or whether we hold, as some of late have concluded,
from the spots in the sun, which appear and disappear again,
that besides the revolution it maketh with its orbs, it hath
also a dinetical ^ motion, and rolls upon its own poles ;
whether I say we affirm these or no, tlie illations before
mentioned are not thereby infringed. "We therefore con-
clude this contemplation, and are not afraid to believe it
may be literally said of the wisdom of God, what men will
have but figuratively spoken of the works of Christ, that if
the wonders thereof were duly described, the whole world,
that is, all within the last circumference, would not contain
them. For as his wisdom is infinite, so cannot the due
expressions thereof be finite, and if the world comprise him
not, neither can it comprehend the story of him.

CHAPTEE VI.

Concerning the vulgar opinion, that the Earth was slenderly peopled
before the Flood.

Beside the slender consideration, men of latter times do
hold of the first ages, it is commonly opinioned, and at first
thought generally imagined, that the earth was thinly inha-
bited, at least not remotely planted, before the flood, whereof
there being two opinions, which seem to be of some ex-
tremity, the one too largely extending, the other too narrowly

' Cope7'nicus.] Copernicus, to make good his hypothesis, is forced
to ascribe a triple motion to the earthe : the first annuall, round about
the Sonne, which hee places in the midst of the universe, and the earthe
to bee caryed, as the sonne was ever supposed to be, in a middle orbe
between Venus and Mars ; the second not a motion of declination from
the sequator to bothe the tropicks onlye, causinge the different seasons
of the yeare, but moi'e properlye a motion of inclination likewise to the
Sonne, which supposes also the poles of the earth to bee mooved, and
the third motion is that called dineticall, or rotation upon his owne
axis, causing day and night. — Wr.

* dinetical.] Signifies whirlinge, from Sivrj, which in the Greeke is
a whirlpole, soe that the dineticall motion of the son is such, in their
opinion, as that of the material! globes, which wee make to tume upoD
their axis in a frame. — Wr.

CHAP. VI.] THE EAETH BEFOBE THE FLOOD. 137

contracting the populosity of those times, we shall not pass
over this point without some enquiry into it.^

Now for the true enquiry thereof, the means are as ob-
scure as the matter, which being naturally to be explored by
history, human or divine, receiveth thereby no small addition
of obscurity. For as for human relations, they are so fabu-
lous in Deucalion's flood, that they are of little credit about
Ogyges' and Noah's. Eor the heathens, as Varro accounteth,
make three distinctions of time. The first from the begin-
ning of the world unto the general deluge of Ogyges, they
term Adelon} that is, a time not much unlike that which
was before time, immanifest and unknown ; because thereof
there is almost nothing or very obscurely delivered ; for
though divers authors have made some mention of the deluge,
as Mane th on the Egyptian priest, Xenophon, De JEquivocis,
Fabius Pictor, De Aureo seculo, Mar. Cato, De Originibus,
and Archilochus the Greek, who iutroduceth also the testi-
mony of Moses, in his fragment De Temporihus ; yet have
they delivered no account of what preceded or went before.
Josephus, I confess, in his discourse against Appion, induceth
the antiquity of the Jews unto the flood, and before, from the
testimony of human writers, insisting especially upon Maseus
of Damascus, Jeronymus JEgyptius, and Berosus ; and con-
firming the long dvu'ation of their lives, not only from these,
but the authority of Hesiod, Erathius, Hellanicus, and Age-

® whereof, <fcc.] Instead of this passage, the first five editions have
the following : — " So that some conceiving it needless to be universal,
have made the deluge particular, and about those parts where Noah
built his ark ; which opinion, because it is not only injurious to the
text, human history, and common reason, but also derogatory to the
great work of God, the universal inundation, it -will be needful to make
some further inquisition ; and although predetermined by opinion,
whether many might not suffer in the first flood, as they shall in the
last flame, that is who knew not Adam nor his offence, and many perish
in the deluge, who never heard of Noah or the ark of his preservation."

' Adelon.'] To the heathen who either knew nothing of the creation,
or at least beleeved itt not, the first distinction of time must needs bee
dcr]\oi>, that is utterly unknowne, for the space of 1656 from the crea-
tion to the flood, and the second, the mythicon, little better, as the very
name they give itt (yt is fabulous), importea, whereas in the church of
God, the third (which they call historicall, and began not till after the
3C JOth yeare of the world's creation with them) was continued in a
perfect nairation and unquestionable historye from the beginning of time
through those 3000 yeares. — Wr.

138 THE EAETH BEFORE THE FLOOD. [bOOK TI.

silaus. Berosus, the Chaldean priest, writes most plainly,
mentioning the city of Enos, the name of Noah and his sons,
the building of the ark, and also the place of its landing.
And Diodorus Siculus hath in his third book a passage,
which examined, advanceth as high as Adam ; for the Chal-
deans, saith he, derive the original of their astronomy and
letters forty-three thousand years before the monarchy of
Alexander the Creat ; now the years whereby they computed
the antiquity of their letters, being, as Xenophon interprets,
to be accounted lunary, the compute will arise unto the time
of Adam. For forty-three thousand lunary years make about
three thousand six hundred thirty-four years, which answer-
eth the chronology of time from the beginning of the world
unto the reign of Alexander, as Annius of Yiterbo com-
puteth, in his comment upon Berosus.

The second space or interval of time is accounted from the
flood unto the first Olympiad, that is, the year of the world
3174, which extendetli unto the days of Isaiah the prophet,
and some twenty years before the foundation of Eome. This
they term mythicon or fabulous, because the account thereof,
especially of the first part, is fiibulously or imperfectly deli-
vered, ilereof some things have been briefly related by the
authors above mentioned, more particularly by Dares Phry-
gius, Dictys Cretensis, Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and
Trogus Pompeius. The most famous Greek poets lived also
in this interval, as Orpheus, Linus, Museus, Homer, Hesiod ;
and herein are comprehended the grounds and first invention
of poetical fables, which were also taken up by historical
winters, perturbing the Chaldean and Egyptian records with
fabulous additions, and confounding their names and stories
with their own inventions.

The third time succeeding until their present ages, they
term historicon, that is, such wherein matters have been
more truly historified, and may therefore be believed. Of
these times also have written Herodotus,- Thucydides, Xeno-

* Herodotus.'] Yet the first parte of his historye begins not till
the times of Apries, that is, Hophreas, whose reign began not till the
eeige of Jerusalem by Nabuchodonosor, 475 yeares after Saul, the first
king of Israel, and at least 1224 yeares after the flood, of all which time
(which to them was most obscure and fabulous) the sacred storye is soe
plaine that thence Eusebius tooke his argument to convince the heathen

CHAP. VI.] THE EARTH BEFOKE THE FLOOB. 139

phon, Diodorus, and both of these and the other preceding
such as have delivered universal histories or chronologies ;
as (to omit Pliilo, whose naiTations concern the Hebrews)
Eusebius, Julius Africanus,Orosius, Ado of Vienna, Marianus
Scotus, Historia tripartita, Urspergensis, Carion, Pineda,
Salian, and with us Sir Walter Ealeigh,

Now from the first hereof, that most concemeth us, we
have little or no assistance, the fragments and broken records
hereof inforcing not at all our purpose. And although some
things not usually observed may be from thence collected,
yet do they not advantage our discourse, nor any way make
evident the point in hand. Por the second, though it directly
concerns us not, yet in regard of our last medium and some
illustrations therein, we shall be constrained to make some
use thereof As for the last, it concerns us not at all ; for
treating of times far below us, it can no way advantage us.
And though divers in this last age hare also wTitten of the
first, as all that have delivered the general accounts of time,
yet are their tractates little auxiliary unto ours, nor afford
us any light to detenebrate and clear this truth.

As for Holy Scripture and divine relation, there may also
seem therein but slender information, there being only left
a brief narration hereof by Moses, and such as affords no
positive determination. Por the text delivereth but two
genealogies, that is, of Cain and Seth ; in the line of Seth
there are only ten descents, in that of Cain but seven, and
those in a right line with mention of father and son, except-
ing that of Lamech, where is also mention of wives, sons, and
a daughter. Notwithstanding, if we seriously consider what
is delivered therein, and what is also deducible, it will be
probably declared what is by us intended, that is, the popu-
lous and ample habitation of the earth before the ffood.
Which we shall labour to induce not from postulates and
entreated maxims, but undeniable principles declared in Holy
Scripture, that is, the length of men's lives before the ffood,
and the large extent of time from creation thereoito.

We shall only first crave notice, that although in the rela-
tion of Moses there be very few persons mentioned, yet are
there many more to be presumed ; nor when the Scripture

of their novel idolatryes, the most whereof sprang upp in the end of
these fabulous times.- ~lFr.

140 THE EAETH BEFORE THE ELO )D. .'bOOK VI.

in the line of Seth nominates but ten persons, are they to be
conceived all that were of this generation. The Scripture
singly delivering the holy line, wherein the world was to be
preserved, first in Noah, and afterward in our Saviour. For
in this line it is manifest there were many more born than
are named, for it is said of them all, that they begat sons
and daughters. And whereas it is very late before it is said
they begat those persons which are named in the Scripture,
the soonest at 65, it must not be understood that they had
none before, but not any in whom it pleased God the holy
line should be continued. And although the expression that
they begat sons and daughters, be not determined to ,be
before or after the mention of those, yet must it be before
in some ; for before it is said that Adam begat Seth at the
130th year, it is plainly affirmed that Cain knew his wife,
and had a son, which must be one of the daughters of Adam,
one of those whereof it is after said, he begat sons and
daughters. And so, for ought can be disproved, there might
be more persons upon earth than are commonly supposed
when Cain slew Abel, nor the fact so heinously to be aggra-
vated in the circumstance of the fourth person living. And
whereas it is said, upon the nativity of Seth, Grod hath ap-
pointed me another seed instead of Abel, it doth not imply
he had no other all this while ; but not any of that expecta-
tion, or appointed (as his name implies) to make a progres-
sion in the holy line, in whom the world was to be saved,
and from whom he should be born, that was mystically slain
in Abel.

Now our first ground to induce the numerosity of people
before the flood, is the long duration of their lives, beyond
seven, eight, and nine hundred years. "Which how it con-
duceth unto populosity, we shall make but little doubt, if
we consider there are two main causes of numerosity in any
kind or species, that is, a frequent and multiparous way of
breeding, whereby they fill the world with others, though
they exist not long themselves ; or a long duration and sub-
sistence, whereby they do not only replenish the world with
a new annumeration of others, but also maintain the former
account in themselves. From the first cause we may observe
examples in creatures oviparous, as birds and fishes ; in ver-
miparous, as flies, locusts, and gnats ; in animals also vivi-

CHAP. TT.] THE EAETH BEFOKE THE FLOOD. 141

parous, as swine and conies. Of the first there is a great
example in the herd of swine in Galilee, although an unclean
beast and forbidden unto the Jews. Of the other a remark-
able one in Athenaeus, in the Isle Astipalea, one of the
Cyclades, now called Stampalia, wherein from two that were
imported, the number so increased, that the inhabitants were
constrained to have recourse unto the oracle of Delphos, for
an invention how to destroy them.

Others there are which make good the paucity of their
breed with the length and duration of their days, whereof
there want not examples in animals uniparous. First, in
bisulcous or cloven-hoofed, as camels and beeves, whereof
there is above a million annually slain in England. It is also
said of Job, that he had a thousand yoke of oxen, and six
thousand camels ; and of the children of Israel passing into
the land of Canaan, that they took from the Midianites
threescore and ten thousand beeves ; and of the army of
Semiramis, that there were therein one hundred thousand
camels. Tor solipeds or firm-hoofed animals, as horses,
asses, mules, &c., they are also in mighty numbers ; so it
is delivered that Job had a thousand she asses ; that the
Midianites lost sixty-one thousand asses. For horses, it is
affirmed by Diodorus, that Ninus brought against the Bac-
trians two hundred eighty thousand horses ; after him Semi-
ramis five hundred thousand horses, and chariots one hun-
dred thousand. Even in creatures sterile, and such as do
not generate, the length of life conduceth much unto the
multiplicity of the species ; for the number of mules which
live far longer than their dams or sires, in countries where
they are bred, is very remarkable, and far more common than
horses.

For animals multifidous, or such as are digitated or have
several divisions in their feet, there are but two that are uni-
parous, that is, men and elephants, who, though their pro-
ductions be but single, are notwithstanding very numerous.
The elephant, as Aristotle affirmeth, carrieth the young two
years, and conceiveth not again, as Edvardus Lopez affirm-
eth, in many years after, yet doth their age requite this dis-
advantage, they living commonly one hundred, sometime
two hundred years. Now although they be rare with us in
Europe, and altogether unknown unto America, yet in the

142 TKE EAETH BEPOEE THE FLOOD. [BOOK VT.

two other parts of the world they are in great abundance,
as appears by the relation of Grarcias ab Horto, physician to
the Viceroy at Goa, who relates that at one venation the
king of Siam took four thousand, and is of opinion they are
in other parts in greater number than herds of beeves in
Europe. And though this, dehvered from a Spaniard unac-
quainted with our northern droves, may seem very far to
exceed, yet must we conceive them very numerous, if we
consider the number of teeth transported from one country
to another, they having only two great teeth, and those not
falling or renewing.

As for man, the disadvantage in his single issue is the
same with these, and in the lateness of his generation some-
what greater than any ; yet in the continual and not inter-
rupted time hereof, and the extent of his days, he becomes at
present, if not than any other species, at least more numerous
than these before mentioned. Now being thus numerous at
present, and in the measure of threescore, fourscore, or an
hundred years, if their days extended unto six, seven, or
eight hundred, their generations would be proportionably
multiplied, their times of generation being not only multi-
plied, but their subsistence continued. For though the
great-grandchild went on, the petrucius* and first original
would subsist and make one of the world, though he outlived
all the terms of consanguinity, and became a stranger unto
his proper progeny. So, by compute of Scripture, Adam
lived unto the ninth generation, unto the days of Lameeh,
the father of Noah ; Methuselah unto the year of tlie flood,
and Noah was contemporary unto all from Enoch unto Abra-
ham. So that although some died, the father beholding so
many descents, the number of survivors must still be very
great ; for if half the men were now alive which lived in the
last century, the earth would scarce contain their number.
Whereas in our abridged and septuagesimal ages, it is very
rare, and deserves a distich f to behold the fourth generation.
Xerxes' complaint still remaining, and what he lamented in
his army, being almost deplorable in the whole world ; men
seldom arriving unto those years whereby Methuselah ex-

* The term for that person for whom consanguineal relations are
accounted, as in the Arbor civilis.
t Mater aitnatce, die natce Jilia, d-c.

CHAP. VI.] THE EAETH BEFOEE THE FLOOD. 143

ceeded nine hundred, and what Adam came short of a thou-
sand, was defined long ago to be the age of man.

Now, although the length of days condueeth mainly unto
the numerosity of mankind, and it be manifest from Scrip-
ture they lived very long, yet is not the period of their lives
determinable, and some might be longer livers than we ac-
count that any were. For, to omit that conceit of some that
Adam was the oldest man, in as much as he is conceived to
be created in the maturity of mankind, that is, at sixty, for
in that age it is set down they begat children, so that adding
this number unto his 930, he was 21 years older than any of
his posterity ; that even Methuselah was the longest liver
of all the children of Adam we need not grant, nor is it defi-
nitively set down by Moses. Indeed of those ten mentioned
in Scripture, with their several ages, it must be true, but
whether those seven of the line of Cain and their progeny,
or any of the sons' and daughters' posterity after them out-
lived those, is not expressed in Holy Scripture, and it will
seem more probable that of the line of Cain some were longer
lived than any of Seth, if we concede that seven generations
of the one lived as long as nine of the other. As for what
is couimonly alleged that Grod would not permit the life of
any unto a tliousand, because, alluding unto that of David, no
man should live one day in the sight of the Lord, although
it be urged by divers, yet is it methiuks an inference some-
what rabbinical, and not of power to persuade a serious
examiner.

Having thus declared how powerfully the length of lives
conduced unto the populosity of those times, it will yet be
easier acknowledged ii' we descend to particularities, and
consider how many in seven hundred years might descend
from one man ; wherein considering the length of their days,
we may conceive the greatest number to have been alive
together. And this, that no reasonable spirit may contradict,
we will declare with manifest disadvantage : for whereas the
duration of the world unto the flood was above 1600 years,
we will make our compute in less than half that time. Nov
will we begin with the first man, but allow the earth to be
provided of women fit for marriage the second or third first
centuries, and will only take as granted, that they might
beget children at sixty, aud at an liuudred years have twenty,

144 THE EAETH BEFOEE THE FLOOD. [BOOK VI,

allowing for that number forty years. Nor vtlA we herein
single out Methuselali, on account from the longest livers,
but make choice of the shortest of any we find recorded in
the text, excepting Enoch, who, after he had lived as many
years as there be days in the year, was translated at 365.
And thus from one stock of seven himdred years, multi-
plying still by twenty, we shall find the product to be one
thousand three hundred forty-seven millions, three hundred
sixty-eight thousand, four hundred and twenty.

Century

20

2 400

3 8000

4 ) 160,000

5 3,200,000

6 64,000,000

7 J 1,280,000,000

Product 1,347,368,420

Now, if this account of the learned Petavius will be allowed,
it will make an unexpected increase, and a larger number
than may be found ia Asia, Africa, and Europe ; especially
if in Constantinople, the greatest city thereof, there be no
more than Botero accoimteth, seven hundred thousand souls.
Which duly considered, we shall rather admire how the earth
contained its inhabitants, than doubt its inhabitation ; and
might conceive the deluge not simply penal, but in some
way also necessary, as many have conceived of translations,^
if Adam had not sinned, and the race of man had remained
upon earth immortal.

Now, whereas some to make good their longevity, have
imagined that the years of their compute were limary, unto
these we must reply ; that if by a lunary year they under-
stand twelve revolutions of the moon, that is, 354 days,
eleven fewer than in the solary year ; there wUl be no great
difiference, at least not sufiicient to convince or extenuate
the question. But if by a lunary year they mean one revo-
lution of the moon, that is, a month ; they first introduce a

* translations. 1 That is, that after totue terme of yearesthey should
not dye, but have been translated as Heuoch was, into Heaven. — Wr.

CHAP. VI.] THE EARTH BBFORli THE FLOOD. .145

vear never used by the Hebrews in tbeir civil accounts ; and
what is delivered before of the Chaldean years (as Xenophon
gives a caution) was only received in the chronology of their
arts. Secondly, they contradict the Scripture, which makes
a plain enumeration of many months in the accoimt of the
deluge ; for so it is expressed in the' text : " In the tenth
month, in the first day of the month, were the tops of the
mountains seen." Concordant whereunto is the relation of
human authors ; Inundationes plures fuere, prima novimestris
inundatio terrarum suh prisco Ogyge. Meminisse hoc loco
par est post prwmm diluvium Ogygi temporibus notatum, cumi
novem, et amplius mensihus diem continua nox inuonbrasset,
Delon ante omnes terras radiis solis illmninatimi sortitumque
ex eo nomen* Aad lastly, they fall upon an absurdity, for
they make Enoch to beget children aljout six years of age.
For, whereas it is said he begat Methuselah at sixty-five, if
we shall account every month'* a year, he was at that time
some six years and an half, for so many months are con-
tained in that space of time.

Haviug thus declai'ed how much the length of men's lives
conduced unto the populosity of their kind, our second
foundation must be the large extent of time, from the crea-
tion unto the deluge (that is, according unto received com-
putes, about 1655 years), almost as long a time as hath
passed since the nativity of our Saviour.^ And this we

* Xenophon de yEquivocis. Solinus,

* month.'] The spirit in many places (as of Daniel, and the Apoca-
lyps) by dayes means yeares : but in noe place yeares for dayes or
monthes. — Wr.

* Saviou.r.'] And according to this number there are, that take upon
them to judge that when the yeare.s of the church's age comes to as
many since Christ's birthe, as those yeares of the world had from the
creation to the flood, the consummation or consumption of the world by
fire prophesy ed by St. Peter, 2nd Epist. 3 chap. v. 10, must needs bee
Mien or thereabouts fulfilled, as itt was before by water at those years.
For counting (say they) as the Apostle there does, that with God 1000
yeares are but as one daye, and that (as all agree) in this yeare of
Christ, 1650, there are just 5600 yeares of the world past since the
creation, that is almost 6 dayes of the weeke, and that the dayes of the
world shal bee, as our Saviour foretold, much shortened, i. e. shall not
continue to the full end of 6000 yeares, i. e. 6 of God's dayes : they con-
clude that the seventh day of eeternal rest of the world and all the works

VOL II. L

146 THE EARTH BEFORE THE FLOOD. [bOOK Vi.

cannot but conceive sufficient for a very large increase, if we
do but affirm what reasonable enquirers will not deny, — that
the earth might be as populous in that number of years
before the flood, as we can manifest it was in the same
number after. And, whereas there may be conceived some
disadvantage, in regard that at the creation the original of
mankind was in two persons, but after the flood their propa-
gation issued at least from six ; against this we might very
well set the length of their lives before the flood, which were
abbreviated after, and in half this space contracted into
hundreds and threescores. Notwithstanding, to equalize
accounts, we will allow three hundred years, and so long a
time as we can manifest from the Scripture, there were four
men at least that begat children, Adam, Cain, Seth, and
Enos ; so shall we fairly and favourably proceed, if we afiirm
the world to have been as populous in sixteen hundred and
fifty years before the flood, as it was in thirteen hundred
after. Now how populous and largely inhabited it was
within this period of time, we shall declare from probabilities,
and several testimonies of Scriptiu^e and hmnau authors.

And first, to manifest the same near those parts of the
earth where the ark is presumed to have rested, we have the
relation of Holy Scripture, accounting the genealogy of
Japhet, Cham, and Sem, and in this last, four descents unto
tlie division of the earth in the days of Peleg, which time
although it were not upon common compute much above an
hundred years, yet were men at this time mightily increased.
Nor can we well conceive it otherwise, if we consider they
began already to wander from their first habitation, and were
able to attempt so mighty a work as the building of a city
and a tower, whose top should reach luito the heavens.
Whereuuto there was required no slender ninnber of persons,
if we consider the magnitude thereof, expressed by some,

therin cannot bee far of. But Low far off, or how neere, is not for
man to enquire, much less to define otherwise tlien by way of Christian
caution, to bee always readye for the coming of that kingdome, which
wee every (day) pray, may come speedilye. For doubtlesyf 1600 yeares
agoe the Spirit thought itt reqvjsite to rowse them up with that
memento, "the Lord is at hand, bee yee therefore sober and watche,"
itt may well bee an alarum to us, on whom the ends of the world are
some. — Wr.

CHAP. TI.J THE EABTH BEFOKE THE ELOOD. 147

and conceived to be turris Beli in Herodotus ;^ and the
multitudes of people recorded at the erecting of tlie like or
inferior structures ; for at the building of Solomon's temple
there were threescore and ten thousand that carried burdens,
and fourscore thousand hewers in tlie mountains, beside the
chief of his officers three thousand and three hundred ; and
at the erection of the pyramids in the reign of king Cheops,
as Herodotus reports, there were decern myriades, that is,
an hundred thousand men. And though it be said of the
Egyptians,

Porrum et caepe uefas violare et frangere morsu ; *

yet did the sums expended in garlick and onions amount
unto no less than one thousand six hundred talents.

The first monarchy or kingdom of Babylon is mentioned
in Scripture under the foundation of Nimrod, which is also
recorded in human history ; as beside Berosus, in Diodorus
and Justin ; for Nimrod of the Scriptures is Belus of the
Grentiles, and Assur the same with Ninus his successor.
There is also mention of divers cities, particularly of Nineveh
and Eesen, expressed emphatically in the text to be a great
city.

That other countries round about were also peopled, appears
by the wars of the monarchs of Assyria with the Bactrians,
Indians, Scythians, Ethiopians, Armenians, Hyrcanians, Par-
thiaus, Persians, Susians ; they vanquished (as Diodorus re-
lateth) Egypt, Syria, and all Asia Minor, even from Bosphorus
uxito Tanais. And it is said, that Semiramis in her expedition
against the Indians brought along with her the king of
Arabia. About the same time of the Assyi-ian monarchy,
do authors place that of the Sycionians in Greece, and soon
after that of the Argives, and not very long after, that of
the Athenians under Cecrops ; and within our period
assumed are historified many memorable actions of the
Greeks, as the expedition of the Ai'gonauts, with the most
famous wars of Thebes and Troy.
* Juvenal.

_ 6 conceived to he, d:c.] Mr. Beke, however, is of opinion that "the
city and tower of Babel, the Babel of Nirarod and the Babel or Babylon
of Nebuchadnezzar, were three totally distinct places." — Origines
Bihlicce, p. 17.

L 2

148 THE EAETH BEFOEE THE ELOOD. [bOOE TI.

That Canaan also and Egypt were well peopled far within
this period, besides their plantation by Canaan and Misraim,
appeareth from the history of Abraham, who in less than
400 years after the flood, journeyed from Mesopotamia unto
Canaan and Eg}'pt, both which he found well peopled and
polieied into kingdoms. AVherein also in 430 years, from
tlireescore and ten persons which came with Jacob into
Egypt, he became a mighty nation ; for it is said, at their
departure, there journeyed from Ehamesis to Succoth about
six hundred thousand on foot, that were men, besides chil-
dren. Xow how populous the land from whence they came
was, may be collected not only from their ability in com-
manding such subjections and mighty powers under them,
but from the several accounts of that kingdom delivered by
Herodotus. And how soon it was peopled, is evidenced
from the pillar of their king Osyris, with this inscription in
Diodorus : Milii jyater est Saturmis deorum junior, sum vero
Osyris rex, qui totum peragravi orhem usque ad Indorum
fines, ad eos quoque sum profectus qui sej^tentrioni suhjacent
usque ad Istri fontes, et alias partes usque ad Oceanum.
Xow, according unto the best determinations, Osyris was
Misraim, and Saturnus Egyptius the same with Cham ; after
whose name Egypt is not only called in Scripture the land of
Ham, but thus much is also testified by Phitarch ; for in his
treatise de Osyride, he delivereth that Egypt was called
Cliamia, a Chamo Noe filio, that is, from Cham the son of
Xoah. And if, according to the consent of ancient fathers,
Adam was buried in tlie same place where Christ was cruci-
fied, that is Mount Calvary, the first man ranged fiir before
the flood, and laid his bones many miles from that place,
where it's presmned he received them. And this migration
was the greater, if, as the text expresseth, he was cast out of
the east side of paradise to till the ground ; and as the
position of the Cherubiin implieth, who were placed at the
east end of the garden to keep him from the tree of life.

That the remoter parts of the earth were in this time
inhabited, is also inducible from the like testimonies, for
(omitting the numeration of Josephus and the genealogies
of the sons of jVoah) that Italy was inhabited appeareth
from the records of Livy and Dionysius Halicarnasseus, the
story of ^neas, Evander, and Janus, whom Annius oi

CHAP. VI.] THE EABTH BEFORE THE FLOOD. 140

Viterbo, and the chorographers of Italy, do make to be the
same with Noah. That Sicily was also peopled is made out
from the frequent mention thereof in Homer, the records of
Diodorus and others, but especially from a remarkable pas-
sage touched by Aretius and Ranzanus, bishop of Luceriuni,
but fully explained by Thomas Fazelli, in his accurate history
of Sicily, that is, from ancient inscription in a stone at
Panormo, expressed by him in its proper characters, and by
a Syrian thus translated : Non est alius Deus prceter unwn
Deum, non est alius potens prcster eundem Deum, neque
est alius victor prater eundem quern colimus Deum :
Hujus turris prcefectus est Sapha Jilius Eliphat, Jilii Esau,
fratris Jacob, filii Isaac, jilii Abraham ; et ttirri quidein
ipsi nomen est Baych, sed turri Jiuic proximcB nomen est
Pharath. The antiquity of the inhabitation of Spain is also
confirmable, not only from Berosus in the plantation of
Tubal, and a city continuing yet in his name, but the story
of Gerion, the travels of Hercules and his pillars, and
especially a passage in Strabo, which advanceth unto the
time of Ninus, thus delivered in his fourth book : the
Spaniards (saith he) affirm that they have had laws and
letters above six thousand years. Now the Spaniards or
Iberians observing (as Xenophon hath delivered) annum
quadrimestrem, four months unto a year, this compute will
make up 2000 solary years, which is about the space of time
from Strabo, who lived in the days of Augustus, unto the
reign of Ninus,

That Mauritania and the coast of Africa were peopled
very soon, is the conjecture of many wise men, and that by
the Phoenicians,'' who left their country upon the invasion
of Canaan by the Israelites. For beside the conformitv of
the Punick or Carthaginian language with that of Phoenicia,
there is a pregnant and very remarkable testimony liereof
in Procopius, who in his second de hello Vandalico, re-
cordeth that in a towTi of Mauritania Tingitana, there was
to be seen upon two white columns in the Phoenician lan-
guage these ensuing words ; Nos Maurici swnus quifugimus

' hy the Phoenicians.] " Tyri et Sidonis in Phoenicis litore civitatum
Carthago colonia ; unde et Pasni, sermone corrupto quasi Phoeni appel-
lantur." — Hieron. See Selden, De Diis Syriis, Prolegomena, cap. 2,
p. 10-24.— /e/.

150 THE EAETH BErOEE THE FLOOD. [BOOK TI.

a facie Jehoschue filii Nunis prcedatoris. The Fortunate
Islands or Cauaries were not unknown ; for so doth Strabo
interpret that speech in Homer of Proteus unto Menelaus.

Seel te qua terrse postremus terminus extat,
Elysium in Campum ccelestia numina ducunt.

The like might we affirm from credible histories both of
France and Grermany, and perhaps also of our own country.
For omitting the fabulous and Trojan original delivered by
Jeffrey of Monmouth, and the express text of Scripture,
that the race of Japhet did people the isles of the Gen-
tiles ; the British original was so obscure in Caesar's time,
that he affirmeth the inland inhabitants were Aborigines,
that is, such as reported that they had their beginning in
the island. That Ireland our neighbour island was not long
time without inhabitants, may be made probable by sundry
accounts, although we abate the tradition of Bartholanus
the Scythian, who arrived three hundred years^ after the
flood, or the relation of G-iraldus, that Csesaria, the daugliter
of Noah, dwelt there before.

Kow should we call in the learned account of Bochartus,*
deducing the ancient names of countries from Phoenicians,
who by their plantations, discoveries, and sea negociations,
have left unto very many countries, Phoenician denomina-
tions, the enquiry would be much shorter ; and if Spain, in
the Phoenician original, be but the region of conies, Lusi-
tania, or Portugal, the country of almonds, if Britanuica
were at first Baratanaca, or the land of tin, and Ibernia or
Ireland were but Ibernae, or the farthest inhabitation, and
these names imposed and dispersed by Phoenician colonies,
in their several navigations, the antiquity of habitations
might be more clearly advanced.

Thus though we have declared how largely the world was

* Bochart. Geog. Sacr. part 2.

® tJiree hundred years.'] This yeare, 1650, is the 5600 yeare of the
worlde since the creation ; out of which, yf you take the j'eare of the
floodd, viz. in the yeare of the world 1656, and also the 300 yeares
more here mentioned, the summe will be 1956, which being againe
deducted out of the present yeai-e of the world 5600, there remaine
36i4 ye.ares this yeare, since Bartolanus is said to arrive in Irelande,
which neither Scripture nor any story mentions, and therefore is a
feigned and foolish tradition. — Wr.

CHAP. VI.J THE EAETH BEFOEE THl; FLOOD. 151

inhabited within the space of 1300 years, yet must it be
conceived more populous than can be clearly evinced ; for
a greater part of the earth hath ever been peopled, than
hath been known or described by geographers, as will
appear by the discoveries of all ages. For neither in
Herodotus or Thucydides do we find any mention of Rome,
nor in Ptolemy of many parts of Europe, Asia, or Africa ;
and because many places we have declared of long planta-
tion, of whose populosity notwithstanding or memorable
actions we have no ancient story ; if we may conjecture of
these by what we find related of others, we shall not need
many words, nor assume the half of 1300 years. And this
we miglit illustrate from the mighty acts of the Assyrians,
performed not long after the flood, recorded by Justin and
Diodorus, who makes relation of expeditions by armies
more numerous than have been ever since. For Ninus,''
king of Assyria, brought against the Bactrians 700,000
foot, 200,000 horse, 10,600 chariots. Semiramis, his suc-
cessor, led against the Indians 1,300,000 foot, 500,000
horse, 100,000 chariots, and as many upon camels.
And it is said Staurobates, the Indian king, m.et her with
greater forces than she brought against him ; all which was
performed within less than four hundred years after the
flood.

Now if any imagine the unity of their language did
hinder their dispersion before the flood, we confess it some
hindrance at first, but not much afterward. For though it
might restrain their dispersion, it could not their popu-
losity, which necessarily requireth transmigration and
emission of colonies ; as we read of Eomans, Greeks,

" Ninus] Soe Ninus had in his armye 974,200, reckoning to every
chariot six fightinge men (on each side three) besides the charioteer ;
but Semiramis her army was not less then 2,000,000, i. e. above twice
soe manye ; and yf Staurobates his army wei'e greater, doubtless never
any since that time came neere those numbers. Then reckoninge at
the least of horses, 4 in each chariot, and of camels, in all 500,000
beasts in her armye, and as many or more on the adverse side, what
countryes could hold, much less feed them ? For Sennacherib's army
did not reach to the twentithe parte of these conjoyned numbers, and
yet he boasted to have drunk the rivers di-ye. — Wr.

' upon camds.] 300,000 ox hides stuffed to represent elephants, and
carried upon camels. — Jeff:

152 THE EAETH BEFOEE THE FLOOD. [bOOK TI

Phoenicians, in ages past, and have beheld examples thereof
in our days. We may also observe that after the flood, before
the confusion of tongues, men began to disperse. For it is
said they journeyed towards the east, and the Scripture
itself expresseth a necessity conceived of their dispersion,
for the intent of erecting the tower is so delivered in the
text, "lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the
earth."

Again, if any apprehend the plantation of the earth
more easy in regard of navigation and shipping discovered
since the flood, whereby the islands and divided parts of
the earth are now inhabited ; he must consider that whe-
ther there were islands or no before the flood, is not yet
determined, and is witli probability denied by very learned
authors.

Lastly, if we shall fall into apprehension that it was
less inhabited, because it is said in the sixth of Genesis,
about 120 years before the flood, " And it came to pass
that when men began to multiply upon the face of the
earth ;" beside that this may be only meant of the race of
Cain, it will not import they were not multiplied before,
but that they were at that time plentifully increased ; for
so is the same word used in other parts of Scripture.
And so is it afterward in the nintli chapter said, that
"Noah began to be an husbandman," that is, he was so,
or earnestly performed the acts thereof ; so is it said of our
Saviour, that he " began to cast them out that bought and
sold in the temple," that is, he actually cast them out, or
with alacrity effected it.

Thus have I declared some private and probable con-
ceptions in the enquiry of this truth ; but the certainty
hereof let the arithmetic of the last day determine, and
therefore expect no further belief than probability and
reason induce. Only desire men would not swallow dubio-
sities for certainties, and receive as principles points mainly
controvertible ; for we are to adhere unto things doubtfiil
in a dubious and opinionative way. It being reasonable for
every man to vary his opinion according to the variance of
his "reason, and to affirm one day what he denied another.
Wherein although at last we miss of truth, we die not-
withstanding in harmless and inoffensive errors, because we

CHA-P. TJI.] OF EAST AND WEST. 153

adhere unto that, whereunto the examen of our reasons,
and honest enquiries induoe us.^

CHAPTER VII.

Of East and West.

The next shall be of east and west ; that is, the pro-
prieties and conditions ascribed unto regions respectively
unto those situations ; which hath been the obvious con-
ception of philosophers and geographers, magnifying the
condition of India, and the eastern countries, above the
setting and occidental climates : some ascribing hereto the
generation of gold, precious stones, and spices, others the
civility and natural endowments of men; conceiving the
bodies of this situation to receive a special impression from
the first salutes of the sun, and some appropriate influence
from his ascendent and oriental radiations. But these
proprieties, affixed unto bodies, upon considerations
reduced from east, west, or those observable points of the
sphere, how specious and plausible soever, will not upon
enquiry be justified from such foundations.

Eor to speak strictly, there is no east and west in nature,
nor are those absolute and invariable, but respective and
mutable points, according unto diiferent longitudes, or
distant parts of habitation, whereby they suffer many and
considerable variations. For first, unto some the same part
will be east or west in respect of one another, that is, unto
such as inhabit the same parallel, or differently dwell from
east to west. Thus, as unto Spain Italy lieth east, unto
Italy Greece, unto Greece Persia, and unto Persia China ;
so again, unto the country of China Persia lieth west, unto
Persia Greece, unto Greece Italy, and unto Italy Spain.
So that the same country is sometimes east and sometimes
west ; and Persia though east unto Greece, yet is it west
unto China.

Unto other habitations the same point wiU be both east

' induce ms.] And whatsoever is beyond this search must bee imputed
to an invincible ignorance. — Wr.

154 OF EAST AND WEST. [BOOK VI.

and west ; as unto those that a.*e Antipodes or seated
in points of the globe diametrically opposed. So the
Americans are antipodal unto the Indians, and some part
of India is both east and west unto America, according as
it shall be regarded from one side or the other, to the right
or to the left ; and setting out from any middle point,
either by east or west, the distance unto the place intended
is equal, and in the same space of time in nature also
performable.

To a third that have the poles for their vertex^ or dwell
in the position of a parallel sphere, there will be neither
east nor west, at least the greatest part of the year.
For if (as the name oriental implieth) they shall account
tliat part to be east wherever the sun ariseth, or that west
where the sun is occidental or setteth ; almost half the year
they have neither the one nor the other. For half the year
it is below the horizon, and the other half it is continually
above it, and circlmg^ round about them intersecteth not
the horizon, nor leaveth any part for this compute.
And if (which wiU seem very reasonable) that part should
be termed the eastern point where the sun at equinox, and
but once in the year, ariseth, yet will this also disturb the
cardinal accounts, nor will it with propriety admit that
appellation. For that surely cannot be accounted east
which hath the south on both sides ; which notwithstanding
this position must have. For if, unto such as live under
the pole, that be only north which is above them, that must
be southerly which is below them, which is all the other
portion of the globe, beside that part possessed by them.
And thus, these points of east and west being not absolute
in any, respective in some, and not at all relating unto
others, we cannot hereon establish so general considerations,
nor reasonably erect such immutable assertions, upon so
unstable foundations.

Now the ground that begat or promoted this conceit

' vertex.] This is spoken by way of supposition, yf any such there be,
that dwell under the pole. — IVr.

* and circling.] And aboutt the tenthe of Marche, before and after,
the discus of the son wheles about the verge of the horizon, and rises not
totally above itt for the space of almost as many dayes as there are
minutes in his diameter : appearing by those degrees in every circu-
lation (of 24 houres time) more and more conspicuous, as hee uses to
doe, when he gets out of total eclypse. — Wr.

CHAP. VII.] 01' EAST AND AVEST. 155

was, first, a mistake in the apprehension of east and west,
considering thereof as of the north and south, and com-
puting by these as invariably as by the other. But herein,
upon second thoughts, there is a great disparity : for the
north and southern pole are the invariable terms of that
axis whereon the heavens do move, and are therefore
incommunicable and fixed points, whereof the one is not
apprehensible in the other. But with east and west it is
quite otherwise : for the revolution of the orbs being made
upon the poles of north and south, all other points about
the axis are mutable ; and wheresoever therein the east
point be determined, by succession of parts in one revolution
every point becometh east. And so, if where the sun ariseth
that part be termed east, every habitation, diifering in lon-
gitude, will have this point also difterent, in as much as
the sun successively ariseth unto every one.*

The second ground, although it depend upon the former,
approacheth nearer the effect ; and that is, the efficacy of
the sun, set out and divided according to priority of ascent ;
whereby his influence is conceived more favourable unto one
coimtry than another, and to felicitate Indis, more than any
after. But hereby we cannot avoid absvu-dities, and such as
infer effects controlable by our senses. For first, by the
same reason that we affirm the Indian richer than the
American, the American will also be more plentiful than
the Indian, and England or Spain more fruitful than His-
pauiola or golden Castile ;^ in as much as the sun ariseth
unto the one sooner than the other ; and so accountably
unto any nation subjected unto the same parallel, or with
a considerable diversity of longitude from each other.
Secondly, an unsufferable absurdity will ensue ; for thereby
a country may be more fruitful than itself. For India is
more fertile than Spain, because more east, and that the
sun ariseth first unto it ; Spain likewise by the same reason
more fruitful than America, and America than India; so
that Spain is less fruitful than that country, which a lesa
fertile country than itself excelleth.

Lastly, if we conceive the sun hath any advantage by

^ every one.] Every generall meridian hath a several east pointe and
«?est (in their horizon) that live under itt. — Wr.

_® Castile.] Virginia is about 7houres distant from London, for when
'■as noone heere, 'tis 5 in the morne with them. — Wr.

156 OF EAST AXD WEST. [bOOS TI.

priority of ascent, or makes thereby one country more
happy than another, we introduce injustifiable determina-
tions, and impose a natiu-al partiaUty on that luminary,
which being equidistant from the earth, and equally removed
in the east as in the west, his power and efficacy in both
places must be equal, as Boetius hath taken notice, and
Scaliger* hath graphically declared. Some have therefore
forsaken this refuge of the smi, and to salve the eifect have
recurred unto the influence of the stars, making their
activities national, and appropriating their powers unto
particular regions. So Cardan conceiveth, the tail of
Ursa Major peculiarly respecteth Europe : whereas indeed '
once in twenty-four hours it also absolveth its course over
Asia and America. And therefore it will not be easy to
apprehend those stars peculiarly glance on us, who must
of necessity carry a common eye and regard unto all coun-
tries, unto whom their revolution and verticity is also
common.

The effects therefore, or^ different productions in several
countries, which we impute unto the action of the sun,
must surely have nearer and more immediate causes than
that luminary.^ And these if we place in the propriety of
clime, or condition of soil wherein they are produced, we
shall more reasonably proceed, than they who ascribe them
unto the activity of the sun. Whose revolution being
regular, it hath no power nor efficacy peculiar from its
orientality, but equally disperseth his beams unto all which
equally, and in the same restriction, receive his lustre.
And being an universal and indefinite agent, the effects or
productions we behold receive not their circle from his
causality, but are determined by the principles of the place,
or qualities of that region which admits them. And this is
evident not only in gems, minerals, and metals, but ob-
servable in plants and animals ; whereof some are common
unto many countries, some peculiar unto one, some not
communicable unto another. For the hand of Grod that first

* De gemmis exercitat.

'' or.] Eeade of. — Wr. The Dr.'s is the true reading ; see it repeated
a few lines ftirther on.

* luminary.'] Cald by God tlie greate lighte. — Wr.

CHAP. VII.] or EAST AND WEST. 157

created the earth, hath with variety disposed the principles
of all things ; wisely contriving them in their proper semi-
naries, and where they best maintained the intention of
their species ; whereof if they have not a concurrence, and
be not lodged in a convenient matrix, they are not excited
by the efficacy of the sun ; nor failing in particular causes,
receive a relief or sufficient pi'omotion from the universal.
For although superior powers co-operate with inferior acti-
vities, and many (as some conceive) carry a stroke in the
plastick and formative draught of all things, yet do their
determinations belong unto particular agents, and are
denned from their proper principles. Thus the sun, which
with us is fruitful in the generation of frogs, toads, and
serpents, to this effect proves impotent in our neighbour
island ;^ wherein as in all other, carrying a common aspect,
it concurreth but unto predisposed effects, and only susci-

* which with us, cfcc] Itt is a true and remarkable thing that wheras
Islip and Bletchinton, in Oxon shire, are not distant above 2 miles, and
noe river between, yet noe man living remembers a snake or adder
found alive in Bletchinton (which abounds vnth frogs and toods), and yf
they bee brought from Islip, or other partes, unto that towne, they dye,
as venemous tilings doe on Irish earthe, brought thence by ship into our
gardens in England : nor is this proper to Irish earthe, but to the timber
brought thence, as appeares in that vast roof of King's College Chappel
in Cambridge, where noe man ever saw a spider, or their webs, bycause
itt is all of Irish timber. — Wr.

On reading the preceding passage, I wrote to a friend in Cambridge
requesting that some inquiry might be made as to the matter of fact.
I subjoin an extract from his reply : —

" Ever since I was a boy, I have heard the traditional account of the
roof, and more particularly the organ loft of King's College Chapel, being
formed of Irish oak, and that no spiders or their webs are to be found
upon it. I yesterday took an opportunity of making a personal enquiry
and examination — two curators had, I found, since passed to the silent
tomb, a third whom I now met with had not even heard of the circum-
stance, though an intelligent man, and who seemed to enter at once into
the nature of my enquiries. He wished me to go up to the roof and
examine for myself, assuring me, that no trouble was taken to sweep
it over at any time ; I went up and could not succeed in discovering the
least appearance of a cobweb, much less of a spider ; from the stone
roof, wliich is underneath the wooden roof, he informed me that in some
parts the spider's webs were very abundant and troublesome.

" I saw the organist, who seemed to be aware of the tradition, though
almost forgotten, and who told me there was plenty of dust for want
of proper care of the place, but he believed there were no spiders j
lie had officiated caany years, but had oever seen one.

158 OF EAST ASTD WEST. [bOOk VI

tates tliose forms, whose determinations are seminal, and
proceed from the idea of themselves.

JSTow, whereas there be many observations concerning
east, and divers considerations of art which seem to extol
the quality of that point, if rightly ujiderstood they do not
really promote it. That the astrologer takes account of
nativities from the ascendant, that is, the first house of the
heavens, whose beginning is toward the east, it doth not ad-
vantage the conceit. For he establisheth not his judgment
upon the orientality thereof, but considereth therein his first
ascent above the horizon ; at which time its efficacy becomes
observable, and is conceived to have the signification of life,
and to respect the condition of all things, Avhich at the same
time arise from their causes, and ascend to their horizon with
it. Now this ascension indeed falls out respectively in the
east ; but, as we have delivered before, in some positions there
is no eastern point from whence to compute these ascen-
sions. So is it in a parallel sphere ; for mito them six houses
are continually depressed, and six never elevated ; and the
planets themselves, whose revolutions are of more speed, and
influences of higher consideration, must find in that place a
very imperfect regard ; for half their period they absolve
above, and half beneath tlie horizon. And so, for six years,
no man can have the happiness to be born under Jupiter :
and for fifteen together all must escape the ascendant
dominion of Saturn.

That Aristotle, in his PoUticlcs, commends the situation
of a city wliich is open towards the east, and admitteth the
rays of the rising sun, thereby is implied no more particular
efilcacy than in the west : but that position is commended, in
regard the damps and vaporous exhalations, engendered in
the absence of tlie sun, are by his returning rays the sooner
dispelled ; and men thereby more early enjoy a clear and
healthy habitation. ^ Upon the like considerations it is, that

"The curator has promised to bring me a spider or web if he can find
one, and seemed much pleased with the, to him, novel information."

The Hon. D. Barrington (in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. lix.
p. 30) says, that he had examined several ancient timber roofs, without
being able to detect any spider's webs. He accounts, however, for this,
on the principle that jlies are not to be found in such situations, and
therefore spiders do not frequent them. How would this remark agree
with the number of cobwebs found in the stone roof of King's College ?

' habitation.'] The waters of those springs are held to bee most medi

CHAP. Til.] OF EAST ANI^ WEST. 15y

Marcus Varro* commendetli tlie same situation, and exposeth
his farm unto the equinoxial ascent of the sun ; and that
Palladius adviseth the front of his edifice should so respect
the south, that in the first angle it receiye the rising rays of
the winter sun, and decline a little from the winter setting
thereof. And concordant hereunto' is the instruction of
Columella,, De positione villce; which he contriveth into sum-
mer and winter habitations, ordering that the winter lodgings
regard the winter ascent of the sun, that is south-east ; and
the rooms of repast at supper, the equinoxial setting thereof,
that is, the west ; that the summer lodgings regard the equi-
noxial meridian : but the rooms of cenation in the summer,
he obverts unto the winter ascent, that is, south-east ; and
the balnearies, or bathing-places, that they may remain under
the sun until evening, he exposeth unto the summer setting,
that is, north-west ; in all which, although the cardinal points
be introduced, yet is the consideration solary, and only deter-
mined unto the aspect or visible reception of the sun.

Jews and Mahometans in these and our neighbour parts
are observed to use some gestures towards the east, as at
their benediction, and the killing of their meat. And though
many ignorant spectators, and not a few of the actors, con-
ceive some magick or mystery therein, yet is the ceremony
only topical, and in a memorial relation unto a place they
honour. So the Jews do carry a respect and cast an eye
upon Jerusalem, for which practice they are not without the
example of their forefathers, and the encouragement of their
wise king ; for so it is said that Daniel " went into his house,
and his windows being opened towards Jerusalem, he kneeled
upon his knees three times a day, and prayed." f So is it
expressed in the prayer of Solomon : "What prayer or suppli-
cation soever be made by any man, which shall spread forth
his hands towards this house ; if thy people go out to battle,
and shall pray unto the Lord towards the city which thou

* De Re Rustica. f Dan. vi.

cinal (of all others) which rise into the easte, for this very reason here
alleaged : hence in the west parts of England, to difference such from
all others, they call them bj' a significant name, East-up -springs, inti-
mating by that proper name, a proper kind of excellencye, above other
springs, especially yf the soile from whence they rise bee chalke, or
pure gravell. — Wr.

160 OF EAST AND WEST. [bOOK TI.

hast chosen, and towards the house which I have chosen to
build for thy name, then hear thou in heaven their prayer
and their supplication, and maintain their cause." Now the
observation hereof, unto the Jews that are dispersed west-
ward, and such as most converse with us, directeth their
regard unto the east ; but the words of Solomon are appliable
unto all quarters of heaven, and by the Jews of the east and
south must be regarded in a contrary position. So Daniel in
Babylon looking toward Jerusalem had his face toward the
west. So the Jews in their o\vn land looked upon it from
all quarters : for the tribe of Judah beheld it to the north ;
Manasses, Zabulon, and Napthali unto the south ; Reuben
and Grad unto the west ; only the tribe of Dan regarded it
directly or to the due east. So when it is said : " AVhen you
see a cloud rise out of the west, you say there cometli a
shower, and so it is ; "* the observation was respective unto
Judea ; nor is this a reasonable illation, in all other nations
whatsoever. For the sea lay west unto that country, and the
winds brought rain from that quarter ; but this consideration
cannot be transferred unto India or China, which have a vast
sea eastward, and a vaster continent toward the west. So
likewise, when it is said in the vulgar translation, " Gold
cometh out of the north, "f it is no reasonable inducement
unto us and many other countries, from some particular
mines septentrional unto his situation, to search after that
metal in cold and northern regions, which we most plenti-
fully discover in hot and southern habitations.

For the Mahometans, as they partake with all religions in
something, so they imitate the Jews in this. Por in their
observed gestures, they hold a regard unto Mecca and Me-
dina Talnaby, two cities in Arabia Felix, where their prophet
was born and buried, whither they perform their pilgrimages,
and from whence they expect he should return again. And
therefore they direct their faces unto these parts ; which,
unto the Mahometans of Barbary and Egypt, lie east, and
are in some point thereof unto many other parts of Turkey.
"Wherein notwithstanding there is no oriental respect ; for
with the same devotion on the other side, they regard these
parts toward the west, and so with variety wheresoever they
are seated, conforming unto the ground of their conception.
* Luke xii. + Job xxxvii.

CHAP. VII.] OF EAST AND WEST. 161

Fourthly, whereas in the ordering of the camp of Israel,
the east quarter is appointed unto the noblest tribe, that is,
the tribe of Judah, according to the command of God, " In
the east side toward the rising of the sim shall the standard
of the tribe of Judah pitch ;"* it doth not peculiarly extol
that point. For herein the east is not to be taken strictly,
but as it signifieth or implieth the foremost place ; for Judah
had the van, and many countries through which they passed
were seated easterly, unto them. Thus much is implied by
the original, and expressed by translations which strictly con-
form thereto. So Tremellius, Castra habentium ah anteriore
parte Orientem versus, vexillum esto castrorum Judce : so hath
K. Solomon Jarchi expounded it ; the foremost or before is
the east quarter, and the west is called behind. And upon
this interpretation may aU be salved that is allegeable
against it. For if the tribe of Judah were to pitch before
the tabernacle at the east, and yet to march first, as is com-
manded. Numb. X., there must ensue a disorder in the camp,
nor could they conveniently observe the execution thereof.
For when they set out from Mount Sinai, where the command
was delivered, they made northward unto Eithmah ; from
Eissah uutoEziongaber about fourteen stations they marched
south ; from Almon Diblathaim through the mountains of
Abarim and plains of Moab toward Jordan the face of their
march was west. So that if Judah were strictly to pitch in
the east of the tabernacle, every night he encamped in the
rear ; and if (as some conceive) the whole camp could not be
less than twelve miles long, it had been preposterous for him
to have marched foremost, or set out first, who was most
remote from tlie place to be approached.

Fifthly, that learning, civility, and arts, had their beginning
in the east, it is not imputable either to the action of the
sun, or its orientality, but the first plantation of man in those
parts, which unto Europe do carry the respect of east. For
lOn the mountains of Ararat, this is, part of the hill Taurus,
; between the East Indies and Scythia, as Sir W.Raleigh ac-
j counts it, the ark of Noah rested ; from the east they travelled
ithat built the tower of Babel : from thence they were dis-
Ipersed and successively enlarged, and learning, good arts, and
iiU civility communicated. The progression whereof was very
; * Numb. ii.

1 VOL. II. M

162 OF EAST AlfD AVEST. [bOOK TT,

sensible, and if we consider the distance of time between the
coufusion of Babel, and the civility of many parts now eminent
therein, it travelled late and slowly into our quarters. For
notwithstanding the learning of bards and Druids of elder
times, he that sliall peruse that work of Tacitus, De moribus
Germanorum, may easily discern how little civility two thou-
sand years had wrought upon that nation ; the like he may
observe concerning ourselves from the same author in the
life of Agricola, and more directly from Strabo, who, to the
dishonour of our predecessors, and the disparagement of
those that glory in the antiquity of their ancestors, affirmeth
tlie Britons were so simple, that though they abounded in
milk, they had not the artifice of cheese.

Lastly, that the globe itself is by cosmographers divided
into east and west, accounting from the first meridian, it doth
not establish this conceit. For that division is not natiu-ally
founded, but artificially set down, and by agreement, as
the aptest terms to define or commensurate the longitude of
places. Thus the ancient cosmographers do place the division
of the east and western hemisphere, that is, the first term
of longitude, in the Canary or Fortunate Islands ; conceiving
these parts the extremest habitations westward. But the
moderns have altered that term, and translated it unto the
Azores or islands of St. Michael, and that upon a plausible
conceit of the small or insensible variation of the compass in
those parts. Wherein nevertheless, and though upon a second
invention, they proceed upon a common and no appropriate
foundation ; for even in that meridian farther north or south
the compass observably varieth ;2 and there are also other

* varieth.] Mr. Gunter, about 35 yeares agoe, observd the variation
of the compass at Redriff not to bee greate by an excellent needle of
8 inches lengthe ; yet now at tliis day the variation in the very same
place is about halfe a pointe different, as some artizians confidently
avouch upon experience ; and our best mathematicians aver that there
is a variation of the former variations dayly ; whereof the cause may bee
in the several loadstones brought from several places. For the mines
of iron, whence they are taken, not running all exactly north and southe,
may imprinte a different force, and verticity in the needles toueht by
them, according to the difference of their own situation. Soe that the
variation is not, or can bee in respect of the pole, but of the needles. It
would be therefore exactly inquired by several large stones old and new,
whetlier the verticity of them severally be alwayes the same in the sajpf
place or noe. — Wi:

CHAP. VIII.] OF THE ElVER NILUS. 163

places wherein it varieth not, as Alphonso and Eodoriges
de Lago will have it about Capo de las Agullas, in Africa ;
as Maurolycus affirmeth in the shore of Peloponnesus, in
Europe ; and as Grilbertus averreth, La the midst of great
regions, in most parts of the earth.

CHAPTER VIII.

Of the River Nilus.

Hekeof uncontrollably and under general consent many
opinions are passant, which notwithstanding, upon due ex-
amination, do admit of doubt or restriction. It is generally
esteemed, and by most unto our days received, that the river
of Nilus hath seven ostiaries, that is, by seven channels dis-
burdened itself into the sea. Wherein, notwithstanding,
beside that we find no concurrent determination of ages
past, and a positive and undeniable refute of these present,
the affirmative is mutable, and must not be received without
all limitation.

For some, from whom we receive the greatest illustrations
of antiquity, have made no mention hereof So Homer hath
given no number of its channels, nor so much as the name
thereof in use with all historians. Eratosthenes in his de-
scription of Egypt hath likewise passed them over. Aristotle
is so indistinct in their names and numbers, that in the first
of Meteors he plainly affirmeth, the region of Egypt (which
we esteem the ancientest nation of the world) was a mere
gained ground, and that by the settling of mud and limous
matter brought down by the river Nilus, that which was at
first a continued sea,^ was raised at last into a firm and
habitable country. The like opinion he held of Mseotis
Palus, that by the floods of Tanais and earth brought down
thereby, it grew observably shallower in his days, and would
in process of time become a firm land. And though '• his

^ sea.] Moore.

* And thowjh.'] Yet after Aristotel 740 yeares, about the yeare o^
Christ 410, itt became soe fordable that the Huns and Vandals (obRerv-
ing a hinde to goe usually through itt to the pastures in Natolia) came
in Buch swaims iiver the same way, that at last they overrann all Europe
also. — Wr.

M 2

164 OF THE EIVER ISILUS. [bOOK VI.

conjecture be not as yet fulfilled, yet is the like observable
in the river Gihon,^ a branch of Euphrates and river of
Paradise, which having in former ages discharged itself into
the Persian Sea, doth at present fall short, being lost in the
lakes of Chaldea, and hath left between them and the sea a
large and considerable part of dry land.

Others expressly treating hereof, have diversely delivered
themselves. Herodotus in his Euterpe makes mention of
seven, but carelessly of two hereof, that is, Bolbitinum and
Bucolicum ;^ for these, saith he, were not the natural cur-
rents, but made by art for some occasional convenience.
Strabo, in his geography, naming but two, Peleusiacum and
Canopicum, plainly affirmeth there were more than seven ;
Inter hoec alia quinque, &c. There are, saith he, many re-
markable towns within the currents of Nile, especially such
which have given the names unto the ostiaries thereof, not
unto all, for they are eleven,'' and four besides, but unto
seven and most considerable, that is, Canopicum, Bolbitinum,
Selenneticum, Sebenneticum,^ Phamiticum, Mendesium,
Taniticum, and Pelusium, wherein to make up the number,
one of the artificial channels of Herodotus is accounted.
Ptolemy, an Egj^ptian, and born at the Pelusian mouth of
Xile, in his geography maketh nine,^ and in the third map
of Africa, hath unto their mouths prefixed their several
names, Heracleoticum, Bolbitinum, Sebenneticum, Pinep-
tum, Diolcos, Pathmeticum, Mendesium, Taniticum, Peleu-
siacum, wherein notwithstanding there are no less than three
difterent names from those delivered by Pliny. All which
considered, we may easily discern that authors accord not
either in name or number, and must needs confirm the judg-
ment of Maginus, de Ostioruvi Nili numero et nominihus,
vcdde antiqui scriptores discordant.

^ Gihon.] The river which rann by Verulara was once navigable up
to the wals thereof, as appears by story, and anchors digd up, but is
now rich land, 20 miles lower. — Wr.

^ but carelessly, cfcc] Yet these are now the principal branches
remaining.

' eleven.] Thirteen in all by Strabo, yet Honterus reckons 17. — Wr.

* Sebennetimm.] Is aunciently divided into Saiticum and Mende-
sium.— Wr.

' nine.'l Of note, the rest smaller branches, and soe not considerable,
and therefore omitted. — Wr.

CHAP. Till.] or THE EIVEE NILTTS. 165

Modern geographers' and travellers do much abate of this
number, for as Maginus and others observe, there are now
but three or four mouths thereof; as Grulielmus Tyrius long
ago, and BeUonius since, both ocular enquirers, with others
have attested. For below Cairo, the river divides itself
into four branches, whereof two make the chief and navi-
gable streams, the one running to Pelusium of the ancients,
and now Damietta;^ the other imto Canopium, and now
Eosetta ;^ the other two, saith Mr. Sandys, do run between
these, but poor in water. Of those seven mentioned b\'
Herodotus, and those nine by Ptolemy, these are all I could
either see or hear of. Which much confirmeth the testi-
mony of the bishop of Tyre, a diligent and ocular enquirer,
who in his Holy War doth thus deliver himself : " We
wonder much at the ancients, who assigned seven mouths
unto Nilus, which we can no otherwise salve than that by
process of time, the face of places is altered, and the river
hath lost its channels, or that our forefathers did never
obtain a true account thereof."'*

And therefore, when it is said in Holy Scripture, " The
Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea,
and with his mighty wind he shall shake his hand over the
river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men
go over dry-shod,"* if this expression concerneth the river
Nilus, it must only respect the seven principal streams. But
the place is very obscure, and whether thereby be not meant
the river Euphrates, is not without some controversy ; as is
collectible from the subsequent words ; " And there shall be
an high way for the remnant of his people, that shall be left
from Assyria;" and also from the bare name river, empha-
tically signifying Euphrates, and thereby the division of the
Assyrian empire into many fractions, whicli might facilitate
their return; as Grotiusf hath observed, and is more plainly

* Isa. xi. 15. t O)'- Not. in Isaiam.

' geographers.'] But Honterus, in his geographical map of ^gypt,
sets downe 17, distinct in situation and name, and hee wrote not soe
long agoe, that they should since bee varyed. — Wr.

2 now Dandetta.'] This is the Bucolic of Herodotus.

' now Rosetta.] The Bolbitine branch of Herodotus.

•• Which much confirmeth, tfcc] This sentence and the following para-
graph were first added in the 2nd edition.

166 OF THE EITER NILTIS. [bOOK Xl.

made out, if the* Apocrypha of Esdras, anl that of thef
Apocalypse have any relation hereto.^

Lastly, whatever was or is their number, the contrivers of
cards and maps alFord us no assurance or constant descrip-
tion therein. For whereas Ptolemy hath set forth nine ;
Houdius in his map of Africa, makes but eight, and in that
of Eui'ope ten : Ortelius, in the map of the Turkish empire,
setteth down eight, in that of Egypt eleven ; and Maginus,
in his map of that country, hath observed the same number.
And if we enquire farther, we shall find the same diversity
aud discord in divers others.

Thus may we perceive tliat this account was differently
related by the ancients, that it is undeniably rejected by the
moderns, and must be warily received by any. For if we
receive them all into account, they were more than seven ;
if only the natiu'al sluices they were fewer ; and however we
receive them, there is no agreeable and constant description
thereof; and therefore how reasonable it is to di'aw conti-
nual and durable deductions from alterable and uncertain
foundations ; let them consider who make the gates of
Thebes, and the mouths of this river a constant and
continued periphrasis for this number,^ and iu their

* 2 Esdr. xiii. 43, 47. + Apoc. xvi. 12.

^ And therefore, ttc] Bishop Lowth considers this passage as con-
veying an allusion to the passage of the Eed Sea. But he cites a
story told by " Herodotus (i. 189), of his Cyrus, that may somewhat illus-
trate this passage ; in which it is said that God would inflict a kind of
punishment and judgment on the Euphrates, and render it fordable
Ijy dividing it into seven streams. Cyrus, being impeded in his march
to Babylon by the Gyudes, a deep and rapid river, which falls into the
Tygris, and having lost one of his sacred white horses that attempted
to pass it, was so enraged against the river, that he threatened to
reduce it, and make it so shallow that it should be easily fordable, even
by women, who should not be up to their knees in passing it. Accord-
ingly he set his whole army to work, and cutting 360 trenches from
both sides of the river, turned the waters into them, and drained
them off."

^ tmmber.] Why should wee call the ancients to accompt for that
which, tho' then true, is now altered after 2000 yeares. Let us rather
hence collect the mutability of all things under the moone. — Wr.

In the first edition the following words are added to this paragraph,
but have been omitted in all the subsequent editions : — " conceiving a
perpetuity in mutability upon unstable foundations erecting eternal
aasertions."

CHAP. Vm.] OF THE EIVEB NIXUS. 167

poetical expressions do give the river that epithet unto this
number.

The same river is also accounted the greatest of the earth,
called therefore Fluviorum pater, and totius Orbis maximtts,
by Ortelius. If this be true, many maps must be corrected,
or the relations of divers good authors renounced.

For first, in the delineations of many maps of Africa, the
river Niger exceedeth it about ten degrees in length, that
is, no less than six hundred miles. For arising beyond the
equator it maketh northward almost 15 degrees, and deflect-
ing after westward, without meanders, continueth a straight
course about 40 degrees, and at length with many great cur-
rents disburdeneth itself into the occidental ocean. Again,
if we credit the descriptions of good authors, other rivers
excel it in length, or breadth, or both. Arrianus, in his his-
tory of Alexander, assigneth the first place unto the river
Ganges ; which truly according unto later relations, if not
in length, yet in breadth and depth, may be granted to excel
it. For the magnitude of Nilus consisteth in the dimension
of longitude, and is inconsiderable in the other ; what stream
it maintaineth beyond Syene or Esna, and so forward unto
its original, relations are very imperfect ; but below these
places, and further removed from the head, the current is
but narrow ; and we read, in the history of the Turks, the
Tartar horsemen of Selimus swam over the Nile from Cairo
to meet the forces of Tonumbeus. Baptista Scortia,* ex-
pressly treating hereof, preferreth the river of Plate in Ame-
rica, for that, as Maffeus hath delivered, falleth into the
ocean in the latitude of forty leagues, and with that force
and plenty, that men at sea do taste fresh water before they
approach so near as to discover the land. So is it exceeded
by that which by Cardan is termed the greatest in the world,
that is the river Oregliana in the same continent ; which, as
Maginus delivereth, hath been navigated 6000 miles, and
opens in a channel of ninety leagues broad, so that, as
Acosta, an ocular witness, recordeth, they that sail in the
middle can make no land on either side.^

Now the ground of this assertion was surely the magni-
* De natwrd et incremento Nili.

' side.] Oregliana river ia 6000 miles longe, 270 nailes broad at the
mouth. — Wr.

168 OF THE RIYEE NILUS. [bOOK Ti.

fying esteem of the ancients, arising fi-om the indiscoverv of
its head.^ For as things unknown seem greater tlian they
are, and are usually received with amplifications above their
nature ; so might it also be with this river, whose head being
^lnknow^l and di'awn to a proverbial obscurity, the opinion
thereof became without bounds, and men must needs con-
ceit a large extent of that to which the discovery of no man
had set a period. And this is an usual way, to give the
superlative^ unto things of eminency in any kind, and when
a thing is very great, presently to define it to be the greatest
of all. Whereas indeed superlatives are difficult ; whereof
there being but one in every kind, their determinations are
dangerous, and must not be made witliout great circumspec-
tion. So the city of Rome is magnified by the Latins to be
the greatest of the earth ; but time and geography inform
us that Cairo is bigger, and Quinsay, in China, far exceedeth
both. So is Olympus extolled by the Greeks, as an hill
attaining luito heaven ; but the enlarged geography of after
times makes slight accoimt hereof, when they discourse of
Andes in Peru, or Tenerifie in the Canaries.' And we under-
stand, by a person who hath lately had a fair opportunity to
behold the magnified Mount Olympus, that it is exceeded
by some peaks of the Alps. So have all ages conceived, and
most are still ready to swear, the wren is the least of birds ;

* head.] Maximus Tyrius, tutor to Aurel. Antonin. emperor, taxeth
the vaine solicitude of Alexander to discover the head of the Nile, and
enquired rather si a Deo bona omnia, uncle mala fluimt, tDc. — Wr.

^ superlative.] A noble lord was wont to say the best trowts are in
as manj' places of England, as afford any trowtes, for every place mag-
nifies theire owne. Hence TuUye wittily drew an argument from the
mouths of all the philosophers against themselves, that the secte of the
Academicks (whereof he was one) was the best. For, saythe hee, aske
the Stoicke which is the best, and he will saj' the Stoick. But then
aske which is the next best, hee will say the Academick. Soe aske of the
Peripatetick, the CjTiicke, the Pythagorian, the Platonick, and the
Pyn-onian or sceptick, which of all is the best, each of these will mag-i
nifie and advance his owne as the prime, but next his owne the]
Academicke. Therefore hee concludes, and that most invinciblye, that!
which by the confession of all interests in severall is the second, is inl
every truthe the firste : for what each speakes of his owne is partiall,"|
but whatt all confesse to be the second best after their owne, is by all]
confession the very prime of all. — Wr.

•* Canaries.'] Pico, in the Azores, 3 miles highe like a sugar j
loaf 6. — Wr.

CHAP. Till.] OF THE RIYEE NILIJS. 169

yet the discoveries of America, and even of our own planta-
tions, have showed us one far less, that is, the humbird, not
much exceeding a beetle. And truly, for the least and
greatest, the highest and the lowest of every kind, as it is
very difficult to define them in visible things, so is it to un-
derstand in things invisible. Thus is it no easy lesson to
comprehend the first matter, and the affections of that which
is next neighbour unto nothing, but impossible truly to com-
prehend God, who indeed is all in all. For things, as they
arise into perfection, and approach unto God, or descend
to imperfection, and draw nearer unto nothing, fall both
imperfectly into our apprehensions, the one being too
weak for our conceptions, our conceptions too weak for the
other.

Thirdly, divers conceptions there are concerning its incre-
ment or inundation. The first unwarily opinions, that this
increase or annual overflowing is proper unto Nile, and not
agreeable unto any other river, which notwithstanding is
common unto many currents of Africa. For about the same
time the river Niger and Zaire do overflow, and so do the
rivers beyond the Mountains of the Moon, as Suama and
Spirito Santo. And not only these in Africa, but some also
in Europe and Asia ;2 for so is it reported of Menan in
India, and so doth Botero report of Duina in Livonia, and
the same is also observable in the river Jordan, in Judea, for

* some in Europe and Asia.] And in America, where the Eio de la
Plata is flooded at certain periods, and like the Nile inundates and fer-
tilizes the country. The Indians then leave their huts, and betake
themselves to their canoes, in which they float about, until the waters
have retired. In the month of April, in 1793, it happened tliat a cur-
rent of wind, of an extraordinary nature and violence, hejiped up the
immense mass of water of this river to a distance of ten leagues, so
that the whole country was submersed, and the bed of the river re-
mained dry in such a manner, that it might be walked over with dry
feet. The vessels which had foundered and sunk, were all exposed
again, and there was found, among others, an English vessel, which
had perished in 1762. Many people descended into this bed, visited
and spoiled the vessels thus laid dry, and returned with their pockets
filled with silver and other precious articles, which had been buried
more than thirty years in the deep. This phenomenon, which may be
regarded as one of the greatest convulsions of nature, lasted three days,
at the expiration of which the wind abated, and the waters returned
with fury into their natural bed. — Bulletin Universel.

170 OF THE EIVER NILUS. [bOOK VI.

SO IS it; delivered that " Jordan overfloweth all his banks in
the time of harvest."*^

The effect indeed is wonderful in all, and the causes surely
best resolvable from observations made in the countries
themselves, the parts through which they pass, or whence
they take their original. That of Nilus hath been attempted
by many, and by some to that despair of resolution, that they
have only referred it unto the providence of God, and his
secret manuduction of all things unto their ends. But divers
have attained the truth, and the cause alleged by Diodorus,
Seneca, Strabo, and others, is allowable ; that the inundation
of Nilus in Egypt proceeded from the rains in Ethiopia, and
the mighty source of waters falling towards the fountains
thereof. For this inundation unto the Egyptians happeneth
when it is winter unto the Ethiopians, which habitations,
although they have no cold winter, the sun being no further
removed from them in Cancer than unto us in Taurus, yet
is the fervour of the air so well remitted, as it admits a suffi-
cient generaiion of vapours, and plenty of showers ensuing
thereupon.'* This theory of the ancients is since confirmed
by experience of the moderns : by Franciscus Alvarez, who
lived long in those parts, and left a description of Ethiopia,
affirming that from the middle of June unto September, there
fell in this time continual rains. As also Antonius Ferdi-
nandus, who in an epistle written from thence, and noted by
Codignus, affirmeth that during the winter, in those coun-
tries, there passed no day without rain.

Now this is also usual, to translate a remarkable quality
into a propriety, and where we admire an effect in one, to
opinion there is not the like in any other. With these con-
ceits do common apprehensions entertain the antidotal and

* Josh. iii.

^ Jiarvest] Maio ineunte.

■• thereupon.] Thia oVjservation is worthye of notinge, yf you under-
stand itt of that .Ethiopia, which borders on the springs of Nilus, sup-
posed generally to flow out of the Mountains of the Moon, that is, 15
degrees beyond the ffiquinoctiall. Whereas Prester John's courte, of
residence wherein Alvarez lived, is 12 degrees on this side the line, i. e,
27 degrees, or 1620 miles at least. And this rayne, which fell in his
courte from June to September overthrows the former instance of the
winter raines at the Mountains of the Moon, although that bee the only
and the true cause of the rising of Nilus. — Wr.

CHAP. Till. J OF THE RIVEE Nll.US. 171

wondrous conclition of Ireland, conceiving only in that land
an immunity from venomous creatures ; but unto him that
shall further enquire, the same will be aiBrmed of Creta,
memorable in ancient stories, even unto fabulous causes, and
benediction from the birth of Jupiter. The same is also
found in Ebusus or Evisa, an island near Majorca, upon the
coast of Spain. With these apprehensions do the eyes of
neighbour spectators behold Etna, the flaming mountain iu
Sicilia ; but navigators tell us there is a burning mountain^
in Iceland, a more remarkable one in Teneriffe of the
Canaries, and many volcanoes or fiery hills elsewhere. Thus
crocodiles were thought to be peculiar unto Nile, and the
opinion so possessed Alexander, that when he had discovered
some in Granges, he fell upon a conceit he had found the
head of Nilus ; but later discoveries affirm they are not
only in Asia and Africa, but very frequent in some rivers of
America.

Another opinion^ confineth its inundation, and positively
affirmeth, it constantly increaseth the seventeenth day of
June ; wherein perhaps a larger form of speech were safer,
than that which punctually prefixeth a constant day thereto.
For this expression is different from that of the ancients, as
Herodotus, Diodorus, Seneca, &c., delivering only that it
happeneth about the entrance of the sun into Cancer ;
wherein they warily deliver themselves, and reserve a rea-
sonable latitude.'' So, when Hippocrates saith, Sicb Cane et
ante Canem difficiles sunt purgationes, there is a latitude of
days comprised therein ; for under the dog-star he containeth
not only the day of his ascent, but many following, and some
ten days preceding. So Aristotle delivers the affections of
animals, with the very terms of circa, et magna ex parte ; and,
when Theodorus translateth that part of his " coeunt thunni
et scombri mense Februario post Idits, pariunt Junio ante
Nonas,''' Scaligerfor ^^ ante Nonas''' renders it '■'■ Jwiii initio,'^
because that exposition affbrdeth the latitude of divers days.

' burning mountain.^ Called Hecla.

^ Another, dbc] Lord Bacon, Natural History, Expenment 743.

'' latitude.] This is all one with the former, for in their times the 0
then entered q^ or rather soner soe that this about hath a large latitude :
for at the sumer solstice, or his coming to Cancer, hee does little varye
his declination for almost a month's space. — Wr.

172 OF THE RITER >'ILITS. [bOOK YX.

For affirming it happeneth before the Nones, he alloweth
but one day, that is the Calends ; for in the Roman account,
the second day is the fourth of the Nones of June.^

Again, were tlie day definitive, it had prevented the
delusion of the devil, nor could he have gained applause by
its prediction ; who, notwithstandiBg (as Athanasius in the
life of Anthony relateth), to magnify his knowledge in
things to come, when he perceived the rains to fall in
Ethiopia, would presage unto the Egyptians the day of
its inundation. And this would also make useless that
natural experiment observed in earth or sand about the
river ; by the weight whereof (as good authors report) they
have, unto this day, a knowledge of its increase.^

Lastly, it is not reasonable from variable and unstable
causes to derive a fixed and constant eftect, and such are the
causes of this iniindation, which cannot indeed be regular,
and therefore their eflects not prognosticable, like eclipses,
Eor, depending upon the clouds and descent of showers in
Ethiopia, which have their generation from vaporous exhala-
tions, they must submit their existence unto contingencies,
and endure anticipation and recession from the moveable
condition of their causes. And therefore some years there
hath been no increase at all, as some conceive in the years
of famine under Pharaoh ; as Seneca and divers relate of the
eleventh year of Cleopatra ; nor nine years together, as is
testified by Calisthenes. Some years it hath also retarded,
and come far later than usually it was expected, as according

9 June.] Reckoning the nones as they doe the calends a retro. — Wi:
' incrccise.] They have now a more certain way, for all the ancienta
agree that Nilus begins to flow about the beginning of July (the sonn
going out of Cancer into Leo), and about the end of September returnea
within his bankes againe. From the first rise to his wonted level are
commonly 100 days: the just bight is 16 cubits. In 12 cubits they
are sure of a famine, in 13 of scarcitye and dearthe, 14 cubits makes
them merye, 15, secure, and 16, triumphe, beyonde this (which is rare)
they looke sad agen, not for feare of want, but lest the slow fall of the
■waters should defer the seed-time to longe ; which usually begins in
9ber, and the harvest is in Maye. But of this you may read at large in
Tlmjen Natural Historye, lib. v. cap. 9, and lib. xviii. cap. 18. But
most excellently in Seneca's iv. lib. of natural questions, which is
vvorthe the reading. Itt seems that in the 7 yeares of famine wherof
Joseph (instructed by God) prophesyed, there had noe rain fain iu
Ethiopia, and that therefore Nilus had not overflowed. — Wr.

CHAP. Till.] or THE EIVER NILUS. 173

to Sozomen and Nicephorus it happened in the days of
Theodosius ; whereat the people were ready to mutiny,
because they might not sacrifice unto the river, according to
the custom of their predecessors.

Now this is also an usual way of mistake, and many are
deceived who too strictly construe the temporal considera-
tions of things. The books will tell us, and we are made to
believe, that the fourteenth year males are seminifical and
pubescent ; but he tliat shall enquire into the generality, will
rather adhere unto the cautelous assertion of Aristotle, that
is, his septem annis exactis, and then but magna ex parte.
That whelps are blind nine days, and then begin to see, is
generally believed ; but as we have elsewhere declared, it is
exceeding rare, nor do their eyelids usually open imtil the
tweltth, and sometimes not before the fourteenth day. And
to speak strictly, an hazardable determination it is, unto
fluctuating and indifferent effects to affix a positive type or
period, For in effects of far more regular causalities, diffi-
culties do often arise, and even in time itself, which measureth
all things, we use allowance in its commensuration. Thus
while we conceive we have the account of a year in 365
days, exact enquirers and computists wiU tell us, that we
escape six hours,^ that is, a quarter of a day. And so in a
day, which every one accounts twenty-four hours, or one
revolution of the sun ; in strict account we must allow the
addition of such a part as the sun doth make in his proper
motion, from west to east, whereby in one day he describeth
not a perfect circle.

Fourthly, it is affirmed by many, and received by most,
that it never raineth in Egypt, the river supplying that
defect, and bountifully requiting it in its inundation : but
this must also be received in a qualified sense, that is, that it
rains but seldom at any time in the summer, and very rarely
in the winter. But that great showers do sometimes fall

' escape six hours.] Lege overreckon every common yeare 10' 44''
according to Alphonsus, and every 4 th yeare, 42' 56". But Tycho by
long and exact observation sayes the retrocession made by this over-
reckoninge is now but 41', precisely : so that in 300 yeares to come the
retrocession of the sequinoxes in the Julian kalendar (for in heaven they
are fixed) cannot bee above one day : eoe that the kalendar reformed
would remaine to all times, — Wr.

174 OP THE EITER NILUS. [bOOK VI.

upon that region, beside the assertion of many writers, we
can confirm from honourable and ocular testimony,* and
that not many years past it rained in Grand Cairo divers
days together.

The same is also attested concerning other parts of Egypt,
by Prosper Alpinus, who lived long in that country, and
hath left an accurate treatise of the medical practice thereof.
Gayri rarb decidunt pluvice ; Alexandrics, Pelusiique et in
omnibtis locis mart adjacentibus, pluit largissime et scepe ;
that is, it raineth seldom at Cairo, but at Alexandria,
Damietta, and places near the sea, it raineth plentifidly and
often. Whereto we might add the latter testimony of
learned Mr. Greaves, in his accurate description of the
P^Tamids.'*

Beside, men hereby forget the relation of Holy Scripture.
" Behold I will cause it to rain a very great hail,^ such as
hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof, even
until now."t Wherein God threatening such a rain as had
not happened, it must be presumed they had been acquainted
with some before, and were not ignorant of the substance,
the menace being made in the circumstance. The same
concerning had is inferrible from Prosper Alpinus, Earissime
nix, grando, it seldom snoweth or haileth : whereby we must
concede that snow and hail do sometimes fall, because they
happen seldom.^

Now this mistake ariseth from a misapplication of the
bounds or limits of time, and an undue transition from one
unto another ; which to avoid, we must observe the punctual
differences of time, and so distinguish thereof, as not to con-
found or lose the one in the other. For things may come
to pass, semper, plerumque, scepe ; aut oiunquam, aJiquando,
raro ; that is, always, or never, for the most part, or some-
times, oft-times, or seldom. Now the deception is usual
N.hichis made by the mis-application of these; men pre-

* Sir WilL^m Pcoston, Baronet. f Exod. ix.

* The snrtKr is also, dx.] First added in 2nd edition.

* rain — hail.] Haile is raine as itt fals first out of the clowde, but
freeses as itt fals, and turnes into haile-stones, yf the lower ayre bee
colder then that from whence it fals. — Wr:

* The same conceriivs hail, tt-c] First added in 2nd edition.

CHAP. Till.] OF THE EIVEB NILUS. 175

sently concludiug that to happen often, which happeneth
but sometimes : that never, which happeneth but seldom ;
and that always, which happeneth for the most part. So is
it said, the sun shines every day in Hhodes, because for the
most part it faileth not. So we say and believe that a
chameleon never eateth, but liveth only upon air ; whereas
indeed it is seen to eat very seldom, but many there are who
have beheld it to feed on flies. And so it is said, that
children born in the eighth month live not, that is, for the
most part, but not to be concluded always : nor it seems in
former ages in all places, for it is otherwise recorded by
Aristotle concerning the births of Egj'pt.

Lastly, it is commonly conceived that divers princes have
attempted to cut the isthmus or tract of land which parteth
the Arabian and Mediterranean seas. But upon enquiry I
find some difiiculty concerning the place attempted ; many
with good authoi'ity affirming, that the intent was not imme-
diately to unite these seas, but to make a navigable channel
between the Eed Sea and the Nile, the marks whereof are
extant to this day. It was first attempted by Sesostris, after
by Darius, and in a fear to drown the country, deserted by
them both, but was long after re-attempted and in some
manner effected by Pliiladelphus. And so the Grand
Signior, who is lord of the country, conveyeth his galleys
into the Eed Sea by the Nile ; for he briugeth them down
to Grrand Cairo, where they are taken in pieces, carried upon
camels' backs, and rejoined together at Suez, his port and
naval station for the sea ; whereby in effect he acts the
design of Cleopatra, who after the battle of Actium in a
different way would have conveyed her galleys into the
Eed Sea.

And therefore that proverb to cut an isthmus, that is, to
take great pains, and effect nothing, alludeth not unto this
attempt, but is by Erasmus applied unto several other ; as
that undertaking of the Cnidians to cut their isthmus, but
especially that of Corintli so unsuccessfully attempted by
many emperors. The Cnidians were deterred by the peremp-
tory dissuasion of ApoUo, plainly commanding them to desist,
for if God had thought it fit, he would have made that
country an island at first. But this, perhaps, will not be
thought a reasonable discouragement unto the activity of

176 OF THE BED SEA. [bOOK T1.

those spirits which endeavour to advantage nature by art,
and upon good grounds to promote any part of the universe ;
nor will the ill success of some be made a sufficient deter-
ment unto others, who know that many learned men affixm,
that islands were not from the beginning, that many have
been made since by art, that some isthmuses have been eat
through by the sea, and others cut by the spade. And if
policy would permit, that of Panama, in America, were most
worthy the attempt, it being but few miles over, and would
open a shorter cut unto the East Indies and China.*

CHAPTEE IX.

0/ the Red Sea.

CoNTBAET apprehensions are made of the Erythraean or
Eed Sea, most apprehending a material redness therein, from
whence they derive its common denomination ; and some so
lightly conceiving hereof, as if it had no redness at aU, are
fain to recur unto other originals of its appellation. Wherein
to deliver a distinct account, we first observe that without

* China.] Betweene Panama and the Nombre de Dios, which lyes on
bothe sides that strip of lande, the Spaniards accompte about 40 miles
at most ; but the Spaniard enjoying both those havens, and conse-
quentlye having the free trade of both seas without corrivalitye of other
nations (which yf that passage were open would not longe bee his alone),
will never endure such an attempt, and for that cause hath fortified
bothe those havens soe stronglye that hee may enjoye this proprietye
without controule. But itt withall supposes that to cutt through the
ridge of mountains which lies betweene those 2 havens is impossible, and
would prove more unfecible then that of yEgypt, which yf itt might be
compassed would be of more advantage to these 3 parts of the world
than that of Panama, and nearer by 1000 leagues to us, the remotest
kingdome trading to the East Indyes. — Wr.

This long projected intercourse with the East Indies seems — under the
present enterprising Pacha of Egypt, to be in a fair way of accompliah-
luent. Letters thither having been actually sent off by the Mediter-
ranean mail in the spring of 1835. The Pacha has sent to M. Brunei
requesting his assistance in carrying on the great work of improvement
in the channel of the Nile ; and one of our Britisli engineers, Mr. Gal-
loway, who has the conduct of a railway constructing between Cairo and
Suez, has been created a Bey of Egypt.

CHAP. IX.] OF THE EED SEA. 177

consideration of colour it is named the Arabian Gulph,
The Hebrews, who had best reason to remember it, do call
it Zuph, or the weedy sea,^ because it was full of sedge, or
they found it so in their passage. The Mahometans, who
are now lords thereof, do know it by no other name than
the Gulpli of Mecca, a city of Arabia.

The stream of antiquity deriveth its name from King
Erythrus, so slightly conceiving of the nominal deduction
from redness, that they plainly deny there is any such acci-
dent in it. The words of Curtius are plainly beyond evasion :
Ab Erythro rege inditum est nomen, propter quod ignari
ruhere aquas credunt. Of no more obscurity are the words
of Philostratus, and of later times, Sabellicus ; Stulte per-
suasum est vulgo rubras alicubi esse maris aqtias, quin ab
Erythro rege nomen pelago inditum. Of this opinion was
Andreas Corsalius, Pliny, Solinus, Dio Cassius, who although
tliey denied not all redness, yet did they rely upon the
original from King Erythrus.

Others have fallen upon the like, or perhaps the same
conceit under another appellation, deducing its name not
from King Erythrus, but Esau or Edom, whose habitation
was upon the coasts thereof* Now Edom is as much as
Erythrus, and the Red Sea no more than the Idumean, from
whence the posterity of Edom removing towards the Medi-
terranean coast, according to their former nomination by
the Greeks, were called Phoenicians, or red men, and from a
plantation and colony of theirs, an island near Spain was by
the Greek describers termed Erythra, as is declared by
Strabo and Solinus.

* More exactly hereof Bochartus and Mr. Dickiuson.

® the xveedy sea!\ Bruce however says that he never saw a weed in
it : and attributes this name to the plants of coral with which it
abounds.

" Heb. xi. 29, commonly called the Red Sea. But this is a vulgar
error, and the appellation rather arose from its proper name Mare
Erythnrum, which (the commentators say) was derived from king Ery-
thrus, undoubtedly the same with Esau and Edom, who was a red
man — so Grotius and others. It is called by Moses, at Exod. xv. 22,
m£3 D', the weedy sea, and such the accounts of modem tourists,
as Niebuhr and others (see Huruen), testify it to be. But whether
these weeds give a colour to it, so as to originate the name Red Sea, is,
I think, very doubtful." — Bloomjidd, Recensio Synoptica, in loc.

VOL. II. N

178 OF THE BED SEA. [bOOK Tl.

Yery many, omitting the nominal derivation, do rest in
tlie gross and literal conception thereof, apprehending a real
redness and constant colour of parts. Of which opinion are
also they which hold, the sea receiveth a red and minious
tincture from springs, wells, and currents that fall into it ;
and of the same belief are probably many Christians, who
conceiving the passage of the Israelites through the sea to
have been the type of baptism, according to that of the
apostle, " All were baptized unto Moses in the cloud, and in
the sea,"* for the better resemblance of the blood of Christ,
they willingly received it in the apprehension of redness, and
a colour agreeable unto its mystery ; according unto tliat of
Austin,t Significat mare illud ruhrum haptismum Christi,
wide nobis haptismiis Christi, nisi sanguine Christi con-
secratus ?

But divers moderns not considering these conceptions, and
appealing unto the testimony of sense, have at last determined
the point, concluding a redness herein, but not in the sense
received. Sir Walter Ealeigh, from his own and Portugal
observations, doth place the redness of the sea in the reflection
from red islands, and the redness of the earth at the bottom,
wherein coral grows very plentifully, and from whence in
great abundance it is transported into Europe. The observa-
tions of Albuquerque, and Stephanus de Grama (as, from
Johannes de Bairros, Fernandius de Cordova relateth), derive
this redness from the colour of the sand and argiUous earth
at the bottom, for being a shallow sea, while it rolleth to and
fro, there appeareth redness upon the water, which is most
discernible in sunny and windy weather. But that this is no
more than a seeming redness,he confirmeth by an experiment:
for in the reddest part taking up a vessel of water, it diftered
not from the complexion of other seas. Nor is this colour dis-
coverable in every place of that sea, for, as he also observed,
in some places it is very green, in others white and yellow,
according to tlie colour of the earth or sand at the bottom.
And so may Philosti'atus be made out, when he saith, this
sea is blue ; or Bellonius denying this redness, because he
beheld not that colour about Suez ; or when Corsahus at the
mouth thereof could not discover the same.

* 1 Cor. X. 2. t Auf). in Johannem.

CHAP. IX.] OF THE RED SEA. 179

Now although we have enquired the ground of redness in
this sea, yet are we not fully satisfied. For (what is forgot
by many, and known by few) there is another Red Sea, whose
name we pretend not to make out from these principles, that
is, the Persian Grulph or Bay, which divideth the xlrabian
and Persian shore, as Pliny hath described it, Mare rubrum
in duos dividitiir sinus, is qui ah Oriente est, Persicus appel-
latur ; or, as Solinus expresseth it. Qui ah Oriente est,
Persicus appellatur, ex adverso unde Arabia est, Arahicus ;
whereto assenteth Suidas, Ortelius, and many more. And
therefore there is no absurdity in Strabo, when he delivereth
that Tigris and Euphrates do fall into the Ked Sea, and
Pernandius de Cordova justly defendeth his comitryman
Seneca in that expression : —

Et qui renatum prorsus excipiens diem
Tepidum Rubeiiti Tigrin immiscet freto.

Nor hath only the Persian Sea received the same name
with the Arabian, but what is strange and much confounds
the distinction, the name thereof is also derived from King
Erythrus, who was conceived to be buried in an island ot
this sea, as Dionysius, Afer, Curtius, and Suidas do deliver.
Which were of no less probability than the other, if (as with
the same authors Strabo affirmeth), he was buried near Cara-
mania, bordering upon the Persian Gulph. And if his tomb
was seen by Nearchus, it was not so likely to be in the Arabian
Gulph ; for we read that from the river Indus he came unto
Alexander, at Babylon, some few days before his death.
Now Babylon was seated upon the river Euphrates, which
runs into the Persian Gulph ; and therefore, however the
Latui expresseth it in Strabo, tliat Nearchus suffered much
in the Arabian Sinus, yet is the original kvXttuq TripaiKoc, tliat
is, the Gulph of Persia.

That therefore the Eed Sea, or Arabian Gulph, received
its name from personal derivation, thoiigh probable, is but
uncertain ; that both the seas of one name should have one
common denominator, less probable ; that there is a gross
and material redness in either, not to be affirmed ; that there
is an emphatical or appearing redness in one, not well to be
denied. And this is sufficient to make good the allegory of
the Christians, and in this distinction may we justify the name

N 2

180 or THE BLACKNESS OF NEGROES. [bOOK TI.

of the Black Sea, given uuto Pontus Euxmus ; the name of
Xanthus, or the Yellow Eiver of Phrjgia ; and the name of
Mar Vermeio, or the Eed Sea in America.

CHAPTEE X.

(y tJie BlacJcness of Negroei.

It is evident, not only in the general frame of nature, that
things most manifest unto sense, have proved obscure imto
the imderstanding ; but even in proper and appropriate ob-
jects, vpherein we affirm the sense cannot err, the faculties of
reason most often fail us. Thus of colours in general, under
whose gloss and varnish all things are seen, few or none have
yet beheld the true nature, or positively set down their incon-
trollable causes. Which while some ascribe uuto the mixture
of the elements, others to the graduality of opacity and light,
they have left our endeavours to grope them out by twilight,
and by darkness almost to discover that whose existence is
evidenced by light. The chemists have laudably reduced
their causes unto sal, sulphur, and mercury, and had they
made it out so well in this as in the objects of smell and taste,
their endeavours had been more acceptable : for whereas they
refer sapor unto salt, and odor imto sulphur, they vary much
concerning colour ; some reducing it uuto merciu-y ; some to
sulphur ; others unto salt. Wherein indeed the last conceit
doth not oppress the former ; and though sulphur seem to
carry the master-stroke, yet salt may have a strong co-opera-
tion. For beside the fixed and terrestrious salt, there is in
natural bodies a sal nitre referring unto sulphur ; there is
also a volatile or armoniack salt retaining unto mercury ; by
which salts the colovu-s of bodies are sensibly qualified, and
receive degrees of lustre or obscurity, superficiality or pro-
fundity, fixation or volatility.

Their general or first natures being thus obscure, there
will be greater difficulties in their particular discoveries ; for
beiug farther removed from tlieir simplicities, they fall into
more complexed considerations ; and so require a subtiler act
of reason to distinguish and call forth tlieir natures. Thus
although a man understood the general nature of colours, yet

CHAP. X.] OF TUE BLACKNESS OF NEGEOES. 181

were it no easy problem to resolve, why grass is green ? Wliy
garlic, molyes, and porrets have white roots, deep green leaves,
and black seeds ? Why several docks and sorts of rhubarb
with yellow roots, send forth purple flowers ? Why also from
lactory or milky plants, which have a white and lacteous juice
dispersed through every part, there arise flowers blue and
yellow ? moreover, beside the special and first digressions
ordamed from the creation, which might be urged to salve
the variety in every species, why shall the marvel of Peru
produce its flowers of different colours, and that not once, or
constantly, but every day, and variously ? Why tulips of one
colour produce some of another, and running through almost
all, should still escape a blue?^ And lastly, why some men, yea
and they a mighty and considerable part of mankind, should
first acquire and still retain the gloss and tincture of black-
ness ? Which whoever strictly enquires, shall find no less of
darkness in the cause, than in the effect itself; there arising
unto examination no such satisfactory and unquarrellable rea-
sons, as may confirm the causes generally received, which are
but two in number ; — the heat and scorch of the sun, or the
curse of Grod on Cham and his posterity.

The first was generally received by the ancients, who in
obscurities had no higher recourse than unto nature ; as may
appear by a discourse concerning this point in Strabo : by
Aristotle it seems to be implied, in those problems which en-
quire, why the sun makes men black, and not the fire ? why
it whitens wax, yet blacks the skin ? by the word Ethiops
itself, applied to the memorablest nations of negroes, that is,
of a burnt and torrid countenance. The fancy of the fable
infers also the antiquity of the opinion ; which deriveth the
complexion from the deviation of the sun : and the conflagra-
tion of all things under Phaeton. But this opinion, though
generally embraced, was I perceive rejected by Aristobulus, a
very ancient geographer, as is discovered by Strabo. It hath
been doubted by several modern writers, particularly by
Ortelius ; but amply and satisfactorily discussed as we know
by no man. We shall therefore endeavour a full delivery
hereof, declaring the grounds of doubt, and reasons of denial,

' should still escape a hlue.^ Dr. Shaw remarks, in his Panorama oj
Nature, p. 619, that shells are of almost all colours but blue. The reason
seems to be the eflfects of salt water on that colour. — Jeff.

182 OF THE BLACKNESS OF KEGROES. [bOOK TI.

which rightly uuderstood, may, if not overthrow, yet shrewdly
shake the security of this assertion.

And first, many which countenance the opinion in this
reason, do tacitly and upon consequence overthrow it in
another. For whilst they make the river Senega to divide
and bound the Moors, so that on the south side they are
black, on the other only tawny, they imply a secret causality
herein from the air, place, or river ; and seem not to derive
it from the sun, the effects of whose activity are not precipi-
tously abrupted, but gradually proceed to their cessations.

Secondly, if we affirm that this effect proceeded, or as we
will not be backward to concede, it may be advanced and
fomented from the fervour of the sun ; yet do we not hereby
discover a principle sufficient to decide the question concern-
ing other animals ; nor doth he that affirmeth that heat
makes man black, afford a reason why other animals in the
same habitations maintain a constant and agreeable hue luito
those in other parts, as lions, elephants, camels, swans, tigers,
ostriches, which, though in Ethiopia, in the disadvantage of
two summers, and perpendicular rays of the sun, do yet make
good the complexion of their species, and hold a colourable
correspondence imto those in milder regions. Now did this
complexion proceed from heat in man, the same would be
communicated unto other animals, which equally participate
the influence of the common agent. For thus it is in the
effects of cold, in regions far removed from the sim ; for
tliereiu men are not only of fail* complexions, gray-eyed, and
of light air ; but many creatures exposed to the air, deflect
in extremity from their natural colours ; from brown, russet,
and black, receiving the complexion of winter, and turning
perfect white. Thus Olaus Magnus relates, that after the
autumnal equinox, foxes begin to grow white ; thus Michovius
reporteth, and we want not ocular confirmation, that hares
and partridges turn white in the winter ; and thus a white
crow, a proverbial rarity with us, is none unto them ; but
that inseparable accident of porphyry is separated in many
himdreds.

Thirdly, if the fervour of the sun, or intemperate heat of
clime did solely occasion this complexion, surely a migration
or change thereof might cause a sensible, if not a total
mutation ; which notwithstanding experience will not admit.

CHAP. X.] OF THE BLACKNESS OF NEGROES. 183

For Negroes transplanted, although into cold and phlegmatick
habitations, continue their hue both in themselves, and also
their generations, except they mix with different complexions ;
whereby, notwithstanding there only succeeds a remission of
their tinctures, there remaining unto many descents a strong
shadow of originals, and if they preserve their copulations
entire, they still maintain their complexions. As is very
remarkable in the dominions of the Grand Signior, and most
observable in the Moors in Brasilia, which, transplanted
about an hundred years past, continue the tinctures of their
fathers unto tliis day. And so likewise fair or white people
translated into hotter countries receive not impressions
amounting to this complexion, as hath been observed in
many Europeans who have lived in the land of Negroes :
and as Edvardus Lopez testifieth of the Spanish planta-
tions, that they retained their native complexions unto his
days.

Fourthly, if the fervour of the sun were the sole cause
hereof in Ethiopia or any land of Negroes, it were also rea-
sonable that inhabitants of the same latitude, subjected unto
the same vicinity of the sun, the same diurnal arch, and
direction of its rays, should also partake of the same hue and
complexion ; which notwithstanding they do not. For the
inhabitants of the same latitude in Asia are of a different
complexion, as are the inhabitants of Cambogia and Java ;
insomuch that some conceive the Negro is properly a native
of Africa, and that those places in Asia, inhabited now by
Moors, are but the intrusions of Negroes, arriving first from
Africa, as we generally conceive of Madagascar, and the
adjoining islands, who retain the same complexion unto this
day. But this defect is more remarkable in America ; which
although subjected unto both the tropicks, yet are not the
inhabitants black between, or near, or under either : neither
to the southward in Brasilia, Chili, or Peru ; nor yet to the
northward in Hispaniola, Castilia, del Oro, or Nicaragua.
And although in many parts thereof there be at present
swarms of Negroes serving under the Spaniard, yet were
they all transported from Africa, since the discovery of
Columbus ; and are not indigenous or proper natives of
America.

Fifthly", we cannot conclude this complexion in nations

184 OF THE blace:>"ess or negroes. [book tt.

from the vicinity or habitude they hold unto the sun ; for
even in Africa they be Negroes under the southern tropick,
but are not all of this hue either under or near the
northern. So the people of Gualata, Agades, Garamantes,
and of Goaga, all within the northern tropicks, are not
Negroes ; but on the other side Capo Negro, Cefala, and
Madagascar, they are of a jetty black.

Now if to salve this anomaly we say, the heat of the sun
is more powerful in the southern tropick, because in the
sign of Capricorn falls out the perigeum or lowest place of
the sun in his eccentric, whereby he becomes nearer unti
them than unto the other in Cancer, we shall not absohv
the doubt. And if any insist upon such niceties, and will
presume a different effect of the sun, from such a difference
of place or vicinity : we shall balance the same with the
concernment of its motion, and time of revolution, and say
he is more powerful iu the northern hemisphere, and in the
apogeum : for therein his motion is slower, and so is his
heat respectively unto those habitations, as of more diu-a-
tion, so also of more effect. For though he absolve his
revolution in 365 days, odd hours and minutes, yet by
reason of eccentricity, his motion is unequal, and his course
far longer in the northern semicircle, than in the southern ;
for the latter he passeth in 178 days, but the other takes
him 187, that is, nine days more. So is his presence more
continued unto the northern inhabitants ; and the longest
day in Cancer is longer imto us than that in Capricorn
unto tlie southern habitator. Beside, hereby we only infer
an inequality of heat in different tropicks, but not an
equality of effects in other parts subjected to the same.
For in the same degree, and as near the earth he makes his
revolution unto the American, whose inhabitants, notwith-
standing, partake not of the same effect. And if herein
we seek a relief from the dog-star, we shall introduce an
effect proper unto a few, from a cause common unto many :
for upon the same groiuids that star should have as forcible
a power upon America and Asia ; and although it be not
vertical unto any part of Asia, but only passeth by Beach,
in Teova Incognita ; yet is it so unto America, and verti-
cally passeth over the habitations of Peru and Brasilia.

Sixthly, and whicli is very considerable, there are Negroes

CHAP. X.] OF THE BLACKNESS OF NEGROES, 185

in Africa beyond the southern tropick, and some so far
removed from it, as geographically the clime is not intem-
perate, that is, near the Cape of Good Hope, in 36 of the
southern latitude. Whereas in the same elevation north-
ward, the inhabitants of America are fair ; and they of
Europe in Candy, Sicily, and some other parts of Spam,
deserve not properly so low a name as tawny.

Lastly, whereas the Africans are conceived to be more
peculiarly scorched and terrified from the sun, by addition of
dryness from the soil, from want and defect of water, it will
not excuse the doubt. For the parts which the Negroes
possess, are not so void of rivers and moisture, as is pre-
sumed ; for on the other side the Mountains of the Moon,
in that great tract called Zanzibar, there are the mighty
rivers of Suama, and Spirito Santo ; on this side, the great
river Zaire, the mighty Nile and Niger ; which do not only
moisten and contemperate the air by their exhalations, but
refresh and humectate the earth by their annual invmda-
tions. Beside in that part of Africa, which with all disad-
vantage is most dry (that is, in situation between the
tropicks, defect of rivers and inimdations, as also abundance
of sands), the people are not esteemed Negroes ; and that
is Libya, which with the Greeks carries the name of all
Africa. A region so desert, dry, and sandy, that travellers
(as Leo reports) are fain to carry water on their camels ;
whereof they find not a drop sometime in six or seven days.
Tet is this country accounted by geographers no part of
Terra Nigritarum, and Ptolemy placeth therein the LeucO'
jSStldopes, or pale and tawny Moors.

Now the ground of this opinion might be the visible
quality of blackness observably produced by heat, fire, and
smoke ; but especially with the ancients the violent esteem
they held of the heat of the sun, in the hot or torrid zone ;
conceiving that part unhabitable, and therefore, that
people in the vicinities, or frontier thereof, could not escape
without this change of their complexions. But how far
they were mistaken in this apprehension, modern geography
hath discovered : and as we have declared, there are many
within this zone whose complexions descend not so low aa
unto blackness. And if we should strictly insist hereon,
the possibility might fall into question ; that is, whethei

186 OF THE BLACKNESS OF NEGROES. [bOOK TT.

the heat of the sun, whose fervour may swart a Hving part,
-and even black a dead or dissolving flesh, can yet in animals,
whose parts are successive and in continual flux, produce
this deep and perfect gloss of blackness.

Thus having evinced, at least made dubious, the sun is
not the author of this blackness, how, and when this tinc-
ture first began is yet a riddle, and positively to determine
it surpasseth my presumption. Seeing therefore we cannot
discover what did eflect it, it may aflbrd some piece of
satisfaction to know what might procure it. It may be
therefore considered whether the inward use of certain waters
or fountains of peculiar operations, might not at first produce
the effect in question. For of the like we have records in
Aristotle, Strabo, and Pliny, who hath made a collection
hereof, as of two fountains in Boeotia, the one making sheep
white, the other black ; of the water of Siberis which made
oxen black, and the like eflect it had also upon men, dying
not only the skin, but making their hairs black and curled.
This was the conceit of Aristobulus ; who received so little
satisfaction from the other (or that it might be caused by
heat, or any kind of flre), that he conceived it as reasonable
to impute the effect unto water.

Secondly, it may be perpended whether it might not fall
out the same way that Jacob's cattle became speckled,
spotted, and ring-straked, that is, by the power and efficacy
of imagination ; which produceth effects in the conception
correspondent unto the fancy of the agents in generation,
and sometimes assimilates the idea of the generator into
a reality in the thing engendered. For, hereof there pass
for current many indisputed examples ; so in Hippocrates
we read of one, that from an intent view of a picture con-
ceived a Negro ; and in the history of Heliodore,* of a
Moorish queen, who upon aspection of the picture of
Andromeda, conceived and brought forth a fair one.
And thus perhaps might some say was the beginning of
this complexion, induced flrst by imagination, which having
once impregnated the seed, found afterward concurrent
co-operations, which were continued by climes, whose con-
stitution advantaged the first impression. Thus Plotinua
conceiveth white peacocks first came in. Thus many opi-

• YiAe^lura apudTho. Fienum, de viribus imagination^.

CHAP. X.] OF THE BLACKNESS OF NEOEOES. 187

nion that from aspection of the snow, which lieth along in
northern regions, and high mountains, hawks, kites, bears,
and other creatures become white ; and by this way Austin
conceiveth the devil provided they never wanted a white-
spotted ox in Egypt ; for such an one. they worshipped, and
called Apis.

Thirdly, it is not indisputable whether it might not pro-
ceed from such a cause and the like foundation of tincture,
as doth the black jaundice, which meeting with congenerous
causes might settle durable inquinations, and advance their
generations unto that hue, which were naturally before but
a degree or two below it. And this transmission we shall
the easier admit in colour, if we remember the like hath
been effected in orgauical parts and figures ; the symmetry
whereof being casually or purposely perverted their mor-
bosities have vigorously descended to their posterities, and
that in durable deformities. This was the beginning of
Macrocephali, or people with long heads, whereof Hippo-
crates* hath clearly delivered himself: Cumprimum editus est
infans, caput ejus tenellum inanihus effingunt, et in longitudine
adoJescere cogunt ; hoc institutum jtrimum hujusmodi, natwcB
dedit vitium, successu verb temporis in naturam ahiit, ut
proinde instituto nihil amplius opus esset ; semen enim geni'
tale ex omnibus corporis p)('^tibus provenit, ex sanis quidem
sanum, ex mo7-hosis inorhosum. Si igitur ex calvis calvi, ex
ccesiis ccesii, et ex distort is, ut plurimum, distorti gignuntur.
eademq^ue in cceteris formis valet ratio ; quid prohihet cur
lion ex macrocephalis macrocephali gignantur? Thus as
Aristotle observeth, the deer of Arginusa had their ears
divided; occasioned at first by slitting the ears of deer.
Thus have the Chinese little feet, most Negroes great lips
and flat noses ; and thus many Spaniards, and Mediter-
ranean inhabitants, which are of the race of Barbary Moors
(although after frequent commixture), have not worn out
the Camoyst nose unto this day.

Artificial Negroes, or Gipsies, acquire their complexion
by anointing their bodies with bacon and fat substances,
and so exposing them to the sun. In Guinea Moors and
others, it hath been observed, that they fi-equently moisten
their skins with fat and oily materials, to temper the irksome
* De Aere, Aquis, etLocis. + FlatNoae.

188 or THE BLACKNESS OF KEGROES. [bOOK Tt.

dryness thereof from the parching rays of the sun. Whe-
ther this practice at first had not some efficacy toward thia
complexion, may also be considered.^

Lastly, if we still be urged to particularities, and such as
declare how, and when the seed of Adam did first receive
this tincture ; we may say that men became black in the
same manner that some foxes, squirrels, lions, first turned
of this complexion, whereof there are a constant sort in
divers countries ; that some choughs came to have red legs
and bills ; that crows became pied.^ All which mutations,
however they began, depend on durable fomidations ; and
such as may continue for ever. And if as yet we must
farther define the cause and manner of this mutation, we
must confess, ixi matters of antiquity, and such as are
decided by history, if their originals and first beginnings
escape a due relation, they fall into great obsciu'ities, and
such as future ages seldom reduce unto a resolution.
Thus if j'^ou deduct the administration of angels, and that
they dispersed the creatures into all parts after the flood,
as they had congregated them into Noah's ark before, it
will be no easy question to resolve, how several sorts of
animals were first dispersed into islands, and almost how
any into America. How the venereal contagion began in
that part of the earth, since history is silent, is not easily
resolved by philosophy. For whereas it is imputed unto
anthropophagy, or the eating man's flesh, that cause hath
been common unto many other countries, and there have
been cannibals or men-eaters in the three other parts of the
world, if we credit the relations of Ptolemy, Sti-abo, and
PUny. And thus if the favourable pen of Moses had not
revealed the confusion of tongues, and positively declared
their division at Babel ; our disputes concerning their
beginning had been without end,^ and I fear we must have
left the hopes of that decision unto Elias.*
* £Has cum venerit, solvet dubium.

^ Artificial Negroes, <fcc.] First added in the 3rd edition.

* some choughs, <£r.] Tliis, however, is not a parallel case to the
varieties existing among different individuals of the same species. The
chough and the pied crow are distinct species. — The former (Corvzis
gracida) has ahvays red legs and bills ; the latter Corvus caryocatactes)
is always pied.

had w*< revealed the confv^ion, dx.'] The question which forms the

CHAP. X.] OF THE BLACKNESS OF NEGBOES. 189

And if any will yet insist, and urge the question farther
BtUl upon me, I shall be enforced unto divers of the like

subject of this and the two following chapters, appears tome to be very
much of the same class as those adverted to in the present passage :
questions utterly incapable of solution, in the absence of positive infor-
mation. We know the proximate cause of the different complexions
existing among the blacker and t<awny varieties of the human race, to
b» the (UfFerent hues of the colouring matter contained in the rete
mucosum; but as to the originating cause, we can scarcely arrive at
even a probable conjecture. There have existed various opinions as to
the original comjjlexion of mankind. Not only have the Negroes deemed
themselves the "fairer," describing the devil and all terrible objects as
being white ; — but they have contended that our first progenitor was,
like themselves, black. Job Ben Solomon, an African prince, when in
England, was in company with Dr. Watts. The Dr. enquiring of him
why he and his countrymen were black, since Adam was white ? Job
answered, "How you know Adam white ? We think Adam black;
and we ask how you came to be white ?" A question which it is not
probable the Dr. was able to answer. — Mo. Rev. vol. xxxviii. p. 541,
Mr. Payne Knight, in his work On Taste, p. 15, is of the same opinion,
that Adam in Paradise was an African Black!! Dr. Pritchard has also
endeavoured to show that all men were originally Negroes. Blumen-
bach on the other hand supposes the original to have been Caucasian.
The influence of climate has been the most generally assigned cause of
the blackness of Negroes, — by some of the greatest naturalists both in
ancient and modern times ; for example by Pliny, BufFon, Smith, and
Bhimenbach. But it is a theory which surely a careful investigation of
facts will be sufficient to overthrow. In addition to our author's
observations to this effect, see those of the English editors of Cuvier'a
Animal Kingdom, vol. i. p. 174.

Nor is the difficulty as to the originating cause of the varieties in the
human race confined to the mere question of complexion. It extends
to the variations in hair and beard — to the configuration of the head —
to the character and expression of countenance — the stature and
symmetry of the body — and to the still more important — differences in
moral and intellectual character. But of what use is it to exercise
ingenuity as to the reasons of these particular variations ? We see that
the most astonishing variety pervades and adorns the whole range of
creation. Let us be content to resolve it into the highest cause to which
we cp.n ascend, the will of that Being who has thus surrounded himself
with the glory of his own works.

I subjoin some remarks by Mr. Brayley, bearing on a part of the
subject.

In an elaborate paper by Dr. Stark, on the influence of colour on
heat and odours, published in the Phil. Trans, for 1833, are contained
some observations and experimentswhich tend to throw considerable light
upon this subject. Dr. Franklin, it is stated by the author of the
paper, from the result of his experiments with coloured cloths on the
absorption of beat, drew the conclusion, " that black clothes are not so

190 or THE BLACKNESS OF TfEOEOES. [bOOK TI.

nature, wherein perhaps I shall receive no greater satisfac-
tion. I shall demand how the camels of Bactria came to
have two bunches on their backs, whereas the camels of
Ai'abia in all relations have but one P How oxen in some
countries began and continue gibbous or bunch-backed ?
What way those many diiferent shapes, colours, hairs, and
natures of dogs came in?-^ How they of some countries
became depilous, and vrithout any hair at aU, whereas some
sorts in excess abound therewith ? How the Indian hare
came to have a long tail, whereas that part in others attains

fit to wear in a hot sunny climate or season as white ones, because in
such clothes the body is more heated by the sun, when we walk abroad
and are at the same time heated by the exercise : which double heat is
apt to bring on pxitrid, dangerous fevers ;" that soldiers and seamen in
tropical climates should have a white unifonn ; that white hats should
be generally worn in summer ; and that garden walls for fruit trees
would absorb more heat from being blackened.

" Count Rumford and Sir Evrd. Home, on the contrary," Dr. Stark
continued, " come to a conclusion entirely the reverse of this. The
count asserts, that if he were called upon to live in a very warm climate,
he would blacken his skin or wear a black shirt ; and Sir Everard, from
direct experiments on himself and on a Negro's skin, lays it down as
evident, ' that the power of the sun's rays to scorch the skins of animals
is destroyed when applied to a dark surface, although the absolute heat,
in consequence of the absorption of the rays, is greater.* Sir Hum-
phry Davy explains this fact by saying, ' that the radiant heat in the
sun's rays is converted into sensible heat.' With all deference to the
opinion of this great man, it by no means explains why the surface of
the skin was kept comparatively cool. From the result of the experi-
ments detailed (in Dr. Stark's paper), it is evident, that if a black sur-
face absorbs caloric in greatest quantity, it also gives it out in the same
proportions, and thus a circulation of heat is as it were established,
calculated to promote the insensible perspiration, and to keep the body
cool. This view is confirmed by the observed fact of the stronger
odour exhaled by the bodies of black people." — Br.

2 What way those many, <£•?.] Rev. Mr. Wliite, in his delightful
Natural History of Sdborne, describes a very curious breed of edible
doiTs from China — " such as are fattened in that country for the purpose
of beinsj eaten : they are about the size of a moderate spaniel ; of a
pale yellow colour, with coarse bristling hair on their backs, sharp
upright ears, and peaked heads, which give them a very fox-like appear-
ance. They bark much in a short, thick manner, like foxes ; and have
a surly savage demeanour, like their ancestors, which are not domes-
ticated; but bred up in sties, where they are fed for the table with rice-
meal and other farinaceous food." On the subject of canine varieties
Sir W. Jardine in a note refers to "some very interesting observations,
in the fifth number of the Journal of Agriculture, by Mr. J. Wilson,"

CHAP. X.] or THE BLACKNESS OE NEQEOES. 191

no higher than a scut ? How the hogs of lUyria, which
Aristotle speaks of, became soUpedes or whole-hoofed,
whereas in other parts^ they are bisulcous, and described
cloven-hoofed, by God himself? All which, with many
others, must needs seem strange unto those that hold there
were but two of the miclean sort in tlie ark ; and are forced
to reduce these varieties to unknown originals.

However therefore this complexion was first acquired, it
is evidently maintained by generation, and by the tincture
of the skin as a spermatical part traduced from father unto
son ; so that they which are strangers contract it not, and
the natives which transmigrate, amit it not without com-
mixture, and that after divers generations. And this
affection (if the story were true) might wonderfully be con-
firmed, by what Maginus and others relate of the emperor
of Ethiopia, or Prester John, who, derived from Solomon,
is not yet descended into the hue of his country, but
remains a Mulatto, that is, of a mongrel complexion vmto
this day. Now although we conceive this blackness to be
seminal, yet are we not of Herodotus' conceit, that their
seed is black. An opinion long ago rejected by Aristotle,
and since by sense and enquiry. His assertion against the
historian was probable, that all seed was white ; tliat is,
without great controversy in viviparous animals, and such
as have testicles, or preparing vessels, wherein it receives
a manifest dealbation. And not only in them, but (for
ought I know) in fishes, not abating the seed of plants ;
whereof at least in most, though the skin and covering be
black, yet is the seed and fructifying part not so : as may
be observed in the seeds of onions, piony, and basil.
Most controvertible it seems in the spawn of frogs and
lobsters, whereof notwithstanding at the very first the
spawn is white, contracting by degrees a blackness, answer-
able in the one unto the colour of the shell, in the other
unto the porwigle or tadpole ; that is, that animal which

3 m other parts.] Not in all, for about Aug. 1625, at a farm 4 miles
fi-om Winchester, I beheld with wonder a great heard of swine, whole
footed, and taller then any other that ever I sawe. — Wr.

In several of the examples in this paragraph, the same error haa
been committed, as in that of the " chough " and "pied crow," just
before ; viz. the confounding of species with varieties.

192 OF THE BLACKNESS OF NEGROES. [bOOK Tl.

first proceedeth from it. And thus may it also be in the
generation and sperm of Negroes ; that being first and in
its naturals white, but upon separation of parts, accidents
before invisible become apparent ; there arising a shadow
or dark efflorescence in the outside, whereby not only
their legitimate and timely births, but their abortions are
also dusky, before they have felt the scorch and fervor of
the sun.

CHAPTEE XI.

Of the same.

A SECONB opinion'' there is, that this complexion was
first a curse of God derived \mto them from Cham, upon
whom it was inflicted for discovering the nakedness of Noah.
Which notwithstanding is sooner afiirmed than proved, and
carried with it sundry improbabilities. For first, if we
derive the curse on Cham, or in general upon his posterity,
we shall denigrate a greater part of the earth than was ever
so conceived, and not only paint the Ethiopians and reputed
sons of Cush, but the people also of Egypt, Arabia, Assyria,
and Clialdea, for by this race were these countries also
peopled. And if concordantly unto Berosus, the fragment
of Cato de Originihus, some things of Halicarnasseus, Macro-
bius, and out of them Leandro and Annius, we sliall con-
ceive of the travels of Camese or Cham, we may introduce
a generation of Negroes as high as Italy, which part was never

* a second opinion.] Possevine, in his 2 torn, and 252 page, does
much applaud himself as the first inventor of this conceite. But Scaliger,
in his 244 exercitation, sifting that quere of Cardan, why those that
inhabite the hither side of the river Senega, in AfFrick, are dwarfish and
ash colour ; those on the other side are tall and Negroes ; rejects all
arguments drawn from naturall reasons of the soile, &c. and concludes
that the Asanegi on this side the river formerly inhabited on both sides
of it, but were driven out of their countrye into this side of the river
by the black Moores, drawne thither by the richnes of the soile on the
further side. And doubtles considering that the maritime Moors of
Barbarye, who lye 900 miles on this side the tropicke, are blacker
then those of the posteritye of Chus, in Arabia, which lyes under the
tropick ; wee must needs conclude that this is but a poore conceyte, not
unlike many other roving phancyes wherein the Jesuit is wont to vaunt
himselfo. — Wr.

CHAP. XI.] OP THE BLACKNESS OF NEGEOES. 193

culpable of deformity, but hath produced the magnified
examples of beauty.

Secondly, the curse mentioned in Scripture was not
denounced upon Cham, but Canaan, his youngest son ;
and the reasons thereof are divers. The first from the
Jewish tradition, whereby it is conceived that Canaan made
the discovery of the nakedness of Noah, and notified it unto
Cliam. Secondly, to have cursed Cham, had been to curse
all his posterity, whereof but one was guilty of the fact.
And lastly, he spared Cham because he had blessed him
before. Now if we confine this curse unto Canaan, and
think the same fulfilled in his posterity, then do we induce
this complexion on the Sidonians, then was the promised
land a tract of Negroes, for from Canaan were descended
the Canaanites, Jebusites, Amorites, Grirgashites, and
Hivites, which were possessed of that land.

Thirdly, although we shoidd place the original of this
curse upon one of the sons of Cham, yet were it not known
from which of tliem to derive it. For the particularity of
their descents is imperfectly set down by accountants, nor
is it distinctly determinable from whom thereof the Ethio-
pians are proceeded. For whereas these of Africa are
generally esteemed to be the issue of Chus, the elder son of
Cham, it is not so easily made out. For the land of Chus,
which the Septuagint translates Ethiopia, makes no part of
Africa, nor is it the habitation of blackamoors, but the
country of Arabia, especially the Happy and Stony posses-
sions and colonies of all the sons of Chus, excepting Nimrod
and Havilah, possessed and planted wholly by the children
of Chus, that is, by Sabtah and Eamah, Sabtacha, and the
sons of Raamah, Dedan, and Sheba ; according unto whose
names the nations of tliose parts have received their
denominations, as may be collected from Pliny and Ptolemy,
and as we are informed by credible authors, they hold a fair
analogy in their names even unto our days. So the wife of
Moses translated in Scripture an Ethiopian, and so confirmed
by the fabulous relation of Josephus, was none of the
daughters of Africa, nor any Negro of Ethiopia, but the
daughter of Jethro, prince and priest of Midian, which was
a part of Arabia the Stony, bordering upon the Red Sea. So
the queen of Sheba came not unto Solomon out of Ethiopia,

VOL. II. O

194 OP THE BLACKNESS OE NE0R0E8. [BOOK TI.

'out from Arabia, and that part thereof which bore the name
of the first planter, the son of Chus. So whether the eunuch,
wliich Philip the deacon baptized, were servant unto Can-
dace, queen of the African Ethiopia (although Damianus a
Goes, Codiguus, and the Ethiopic relations aver it), is yet
by many, and with strong suspicions, doubted. So that the
army of a million, which Zerah, king of Ethiopia, is said to
bring against Asa, was drawn out of Arabia, and the plan-
tations of Chus ; not out of Ethiopia, and the remote
habitations of the Moors. For it is said that Asa pursuing
his victory took from him the city Grerar ; now Gerar was no
cit}^ in or near Ethiopia, but a place between Cadesh and
Zur, where Abraham formerly sojourned. Since therefore
these African Ethiopians are not convinced by the common
acception to be the sons of Chus, whether they be not the
posterity of Phut or Mizraim, or both, it is not assuredly
determined. For Mizraim, he possessed Egypt, and the east
parts of Africa. From Lubym, his son, came the Libyans,
and perhaps from them the Ethiopians. Phut possessed
Mauritania, and the western parts of Africa, and from these
perhaps descended the Moors of the west, of Mandinga,
Meleguette, and Guinea. But from Canaan, upon whom the
curse was pronounced, none of these had their original ; for
he was restrained unto Canaan and Syria, although in after
ages many colonies dispersed, and some thereof upon the
coasts of Africa, and prepossessions of his elder brothers.

Fourthly, to take away all doubt or any probable divari-
cation, the curse is plainly specified in the text, nor need we
dispute it, like the mark of Cain ; Servus servorum erit
fratribus suis, — " Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants
shall he be imto his brethren ;" which was after fulfilled in
the conquest of Canaan, subdued by the Israehtes, the pos-
terity of Sem. "Which prophecy Abraham well understanding,
took an oath of his servant not to take a wife for his son
Isaac out of the daughters of the Canaanites, and the like^
was performed by Isaac in the behalf of his son Jacob. As
for Cham and his other sous, this cui'se attained- them not;
for ]Srimrod, the son of Chus, set up his kingdom in Babylon,
and erected the first great empire ; Mizraim and his pos-
terity grew miglity monarchs in Egypt ; and the empire ol
the Etliiopians ha"h been as large as either. Kor did the

CHAP. XI.] OF THE BLACKNESS OF NEGEOES. 195

curse descend in general upon the posterity of Canaan, for
the Sidonians, Arkites, Hamathites, Sinites, Arvadites, and
Zemeritcs seem exempted. But why there being eleven
sons, five only were condemned, and six escaped the male-
diction, is a secret beyond discovery.^

Lastly, whereas men affirm this colour was a curse, I
cannot make out the propriety of that name, it neither
seeming so to them, nor reasonably unto us, for they take
so much content therein, that they esteem deformity by
other colours, describing the devd and terrible objects white ;
and if we seriously consult the definitions of beauty, and
exactly perpend what wise men determine thereof, we shall
not apprehend a curse, or any deformity therein. For first,
some place the essence thereof in the proportion of parts,
conceiving it to consist in a comely commensurability of the
whole unto the parts, and the parts between themselves,
which is the determination of the best and learned writers.
Now hereby the Moors are not excluded from beauty, there
being in this description no consideration of colours, but an
apt connection and frame of parts and the whole. Others
there be, and those most in number, which place it not only
in proportion of parts, but also in grace of colour. But to
m.&. -^olour essential unto beauty, there will arise no slender
d-'^^'.'Liicy. Tor Aristotle, in two definitions of pulchritude,
and Galen in one, ha\ c made no mention of colour. Neither
will it agree unto the beauty of animals, wherein notwith-
standing here is an approved pulchritude. Thus horses are
handsome under any colour, and the symmetry of parts
obscures the consideration of complexions. Thus in con-
colour animals and such as are confined unto one colour, we
measure not their beauty thereby ; for if a crow or blackbird
grow white, we generaUy account it more pretty ; and in
almost a monstrosity descend not to opinion of deformity.
By this way likewise the Moors escape the curse of deformity,
there concurring no stationary colour, and sometimes not
any unto beauty.

The Platonick contemplators reject both these descriptions

founded upon parts and colours, or either, as M. Leo, the

Jew, hath excellently discoursed in his Gejiealogy of Love,

defining beauty a formal grace, which delights and moves

* Nor did the cv/ne, tfcc] First added in 2nd edition.

o 2

196 OF THE BLACKNESS OF NEGEOES. [bOOK VI.

them to love which comprehend it. This grace, say they,
discoverable outwardly, is the resplendoiir and ray of some
interior and invisible beauty, and proceedeth from the forms
of compositions amiable. Whose faculties if they can aptly
contrive their matter, they beget in the subject an agreeable
and pleasing beauty ; if overruled thereby, they evidence
not their perfections, but riui into deformity. For seeing
that out of the same materials, Thersites and Paris, mon-
strosity and beauty may be contrived, the forms and
operative faculties introduce and determine their perfections.
Which in natural bodies receive exactness in every kind,
according to the first idea of the Creator, and in contrived
bodies the fancy of the artificer, and by this consideration of
beauty, the Moors also are not excluded, but hold a common
share therein with all mankind.

Lastly, in whatsoever its theory consisteth, or if in the
general we allow the common conceit of symmetry and of
colour, yet to descend unto singularities, or determine in
what symmetry or colour it consisted, were a slippery desig-
nation. For beauty is determined by opinion, and seems to
have no essence that holds one notion with aU ; that seeming
beauteous unto one, which hath no favour with another ;
and that unto every one, according as custom hath made it
natural, or sympathy and conformity of minds shall make
it seem agreeable. Thus flat noses seem comely unto the
Moor, an aqueline or hawked one unto the Persian, a large
and prominent nose mato the Roman ; but none of all these
are acceptable in our opinion. Thus some think it most
ornamental to wear their bracelets on their wrists, others
say it is better to have them about their ankles ; some think
it most comely to wear their rings and jewels in the ear,
others will have them about their privities ; a third will not
think they are complete except they hang them in their lips,
cheeks, or noses. Thus Homer to set ofi" Minerva, calleth
her yXaucwTTtc, that is, gray, or light-blue eyed ; now this
unto us seems far less amiable than the black. Thus we
that are of contrary complexions accuse the blackness of the
Moors as ugly ; but the spouse in the Canticles excuseth
this conceit, in that description of hers, I am black but
comely. And howsoever Cerberus, and the furies of hell be
described by the poets under this complexion, yet in the

CHAP. XII.] A DIGRESSION CONCEENIKO BLACKNESS. 197

beauty of our Saviour, blackness is commended, when it is
said, his locks are bushy and black as a raven. So that to
infer this as a curse, or to reason it as a deformity, is no vray
reasonable ; the two foundations of beauty, symmetry and
complexion, receiving such various apprehensions, that no
deviation will be expounded so high as a curse or undeniable
deformity, without a manifest and confessed degree of
monstrosity.

Lastly, it is a very injurious method unto philosophy, and
a perpetual promotion of ignorance, in points of obscurity,
nor open unto easy considerations, to fall upon a present
refuge unto miracles ; or recur unto immediate contrivance
from the unsearchable hands of God. Thus, in the conceit
of the evil odour of the Jews, Christians, without a further
research into the verity of the thing, or enquiry into the
cause, draw up a judgment upon them from the passion of
their Saviour. Thus in the wondrous effects of the clime of
Ireland, and the freedom from all venomous creatures, the
credulity of common conceit imputes this immunity unto
the benediction of St. Patrick, as Beda and Gyraldus have
left recorded. Thus the ass having a pecuUar mark of a cross
made by a black list down his back, and another athwart, or
at right angles down his shoulders : common opinion ascribes
this ligure unto a peculiar signation, since that beast had
the honour to bear our Saviour on his back. Certainly this
is a course more desperate than antipathies, sympathies, or
occult qualities ; wherein by a final and satisfactive discern-
ment of faith, we lay the last and particular effects upon the
first and general cause of all things ; whereas in the other,
we do but palliate our determinations, until our advanced
endeavours do totally reject, or partially salve their evasions.

CHAPTEE XII.

A Digression concei-ning Blackniess.

TnEEE being therefore two opinions repugnant unto each
other, it may not be presumptive or sceptical to doubt of
both. And because we remain imperfect in the general
theory of colours, we shall deliver at present a short dis-

198 A DIGEESSTON CONCEEXINO BLACKNESS. [bOOK TI.

coverj of blackness ; wherein although perhaps we afford no
greater satisfaction than others, yet shall we empirically and
sensibly discourse hereof; deducing the causes of blackness
from such originals in nature, as we do generally observe
things are denigrated by art. And herein I hope our pro-
gression will not be thought unreasonable ; for, art being
the imitation of nature, or nature at the second hand, it is
bat a sensible expression of effects dependent on the same,
though more removed causes : and therefore the works of
the one may serve to discover the other. And though
colours of bodies may arise according to the receptions,
refraction, or modification of light ; yet are there certain
materials which may dispose them unto such qualities."

And first, things become, by a sooty or fnliginous matter
proceeding from the sulphur of bodies, torrified ; not taking
fiiUgo strictly, but in opposition unto dr/Lue, that is, any kind
of vaporous or madefying excretion, and comprehending
:\yadv/.ua(Tic, that is, as Aristotle defines it, a separation of
moist and dry parts made by the action of heat or fire, and
colouring bodies objected. Hereof in his Meteors, from the
qualities of the subject, he raiseth three kinds ; the exhala-
tions from ligneous and lean bodies, as bones, hair, and the
like, he called Kc'nrroc, fumiis ; from fat bodies, and such as
have not their fatness conspicuous or separated, he termeth
\iyvic, fuligo, as wax, resin, pitch, or turpentine ; that from
unctuous bodies, and such whose oiliness is evident, he
named tcriaaa or nidor. Now every one of these do blacken
bodies objected unto them, and are to be conceived in the
sooty and fuliginous matter expressed.

I say, proceeding from the sulphur of bodies torrified,
that is, the oil, fat, and unctuous parts, wherein consist the
principles of flammability. Not pure and refined sulpliur,
as in the spirits of wine often rectified ; but containing
terrestrious parts, and carrying with it the volatile salt of
the body, and such as is distinguishable by taste in soot :
nor vulgar and usual sulphur, for that leaves none or very
little blackness, except a metalline body receive the
exhalation.

I say, torrified, singed, or suffering some impression from
fire ; thus are bodies casually or artificially denigrated, which

' And though colours, l-c] First added in the 6th edit.

CHAP. XII.] A DIGRESSION CONCEIlJ^"ING BLACKNESS. 199

in tlieir naturals are of another comple^rion ; thus are char-
coals made black by an infection of their own siiffitus ; so is
it true what is affirmed of combustible bodies, adusta nigra,
perusta alba : black at first Irom the fuliginous tincture,
which being exhaled they become whijbe, as is perceptible in
ashes. And so doth fire cleanse and purify bodies, because
it consumes the sulphurous parts, -which before did make
them foul, and therefore refines those bodies which will never
be mundified by water. Thus camphire, of a white sub-
stance, by its fuligo afibrdeth a deep black. So is pitch
black, although it proceed from the same tree with resin, the
one distilling forth, the other forced by fire. So of the
suffitus of a torch, do painters make a velvet black ; so is
lamp-black made ; so of burnt hart-horns a sable ; so is bacon
denigrated in chimneys ; so in fevers and hot distempers
from choler adust is caused a blackness in our tongues,
teeth, and excretions ; so are ustilago, brant-corn and trees
black by blasting ; so parts cauterized, gangrenated, side-
rated, and mortified, become black, the radical moisture, or
vital sulphur suffering an extinction, and smothered in the
part aftected. So not only actual but potential fire — not
burning fire, but also corroding water — will induce a black-
ness. So are chimneys and furnaces generally black, except
they receive a clear and manifest sulphur ; for the smoke of
sulphur will not black a paper, and is commonly used by
women to whiten tiffanies, which it performeth by an acid,
vitriolous, and penetrating spirit ascending from it, by
reason whereof it is not apt to kindle anything : nor will it
easily light a candle, until that spirit be spent, and the flame
approacheth the match. This is that acid and piercing spirit
which, with such activity and compunction invadeth the
brains and nostrils of those that receive it. And thus when
Bellonius affirmeth the charcoals made out of the wood ot
oxycedar are white, Dr. Jordan, in his judicious discourse
of mineral waters, yieldeth the reason, because their vapours
are rather sulphureous than of any other combustible sub-
stance. So we see that Tinby coals will not black linen
hanged in the smoke thereof, but rather whiten it by reason
of the drying and penetrating quality of sulphur, which will
make red roses white. And therefore to conceive a general
blackness in heU, and yet therein the piu-e and refined flames

200 A DIGRESSION CONCEKNIXG BLACKNESS. [bOOK TI.

of sulphur, is no philosophical conception, nor will it well
consist with the real effects of its nature.

These are the advenient and artificial ways of denigration,
answerably whereto may be the natural progress. These
are the ways whereby culinary and common fires do operate,
and correspondent hereunto may be the effects of fire
elemental. So may bitumen, coals, jet, black-lead, and divers
mineral earths become black ; being either fuliginous con-
cretions in the earth, or suffering a scorch from denigrating
principles in their formation. So men and other animals
receive different tinctures from constitution and complexional
efflorescences, and descend still lower, as they partake of the
fuliginous and denigrating humour. And so may the
Ethiopians or Negroes become coal-black, from fuliginous
efflorescences and complexional tinctures arising from such
probabilities, as we have declared before.

The second way whereby bodies become black, is an atra-
mentous condition or mixture, that is, a vitriolate or
copperas ^ quality conjoining with a terrestrious and astrin-
gent humidity ; for so is atramentum scriptorium, or writing
ink commonly made by copperas cast upon a decoction or
infusion of galls. I say a vitriolous or copperas quality ;
for vitriol is the active or cliief ingredient in ink, and no
other salt that I know will strike the colour with galls :
neither alum, sal-gem, nitre, nor ammoniack. Now, artificial
copperas, and such as we commonly use, is a rough and
acrimonious kind of salt drawn out of ferreous and eruginous
earths, partakmg chiefly of iron and copper ; the blue of
copper, the green most of iron. Nor is it unusual to dis-
solve fragments of iron in the liquor thereof, for advantage
in the concretion. I say, a terrestrious or astringent hu-
midity ; for without this there will ensue no tincture ; for
copperas in a decoction of lettuce or mallows affords no
black, which with an astringent mixture it will do, though
it be made up with oil, as in printing and painting ink.^
But whereas in this composition we use only nut-galls, that
is, an excrescence from the oak, therein we follow and beat
upon the old receipt ; for any plant of austere and stiptick

* copper as.'\ Eeade coppei'-i-ust.

^ as in printing, <tc.] There is noe copper-rust in printinge ink, which
iB made of lamp black and oyle. — Wr.

CHAP. XII.] A DIGRESSION CONCEEXINO; BLACKNESS. 201

parts will suffice, as I have experimented in bistort, myro-
halans, nnjrtus hrahantica, halaustium, and red roses. And
indeed, most decoctions of astringent plants, of what colour
soever, do leave in the liquor a deep and muscadine red ;
which by additon of vitriol descends into a black : and so
Dioscorides in his receipt of ink, leaves out gall, and with
copperas makes use of soot.^

Now, if we ei) quire in what part of vitriol this atramental
and denigrating condition lodgeth, it will seem especially to
lie in the mare fixed salt thereof. For the phlegm or aqueous
evaporation will not denigrate ; nor yet spirits of vitriol,
which carry with them volatile and nimbler salt. For if
upon a decoction of copperas and gall, be poured the spirits
or oil of vitriol, the liquor will relinquish his blackness ; the
gall and parts of the copperas precipitate unto the bottom,
and the ink grow clear again, which it will not so easily do
in common ink, because that gum is dissolved therein, which
hindereth the separation. But colcothar, or vitriol burnt,
though unto a redness, containing the fixed salt, will make
good ink ; and so will the Uxivium, or lye made thereof with
warm water ; but the terra or insipid earth remaining,
aftbrds no black at all, but serves in many things for a gross
and useful red. And though spirits of vitriol, projected
upon a decoction of galls, will not raise a black, yet if these
spirits be any way fixed, or return into vitriol again, the
same will act their former parts, and denigrate as before.
And if we yet make a more exact enquiry, by what this salt
of \'itriol more peculiarly gives this colour, we shall find it
to be from a metalline condition, and especially an iron pro-
perty or ferreous participation. For blue copperas^ which
deeply partakes of the copper, will do it but weakly, verdigris
which is made of copper will not do it at all. But the
filings of iron infused in vinegar, will with a decoction of
galls make good ink, without any copperas at all ; and so
will infusion of load-stone, which is of affinity with iron.
And though more conspicuously in iron, yet such a calcau-
thous or atramentous quality we will not wholly reject in other
metals ; whereby we often observe black tinctures in their
solutions. Thus a lemon, quince, or sharp apple cut with a

' soot.'] B it he meant torche or lamp soote. — Wr.
s copperas. Reade copper-rust, and soe itt is. — Wr.

202 A digressiojS' concerning blackness, [book vi.

knife becomes immediately black. And from the like cause,
articliokes. So sublimate beat up with whites of eggs, if
touched with a knife, becomes incontinently black. So
aqua fort is, whose ingredient is vitriol, will make white
bodies black. So leather, dressed with the bark of oak, is
easily made black by a bare solution of copperas. So divers
mineral waters and such as participate of iron, upon an
infusion of galls, become of a dark colour, and entering iipon
black. So steel infused, makes not only the liquor dusky,
but, in bodies wherein it concurs with proportionable tinc-
tures, makes also the excretions black. And so also from
this vitriolous quaUty, mercurius dulcis, and vitriol vomitive,
occasions black ejections. But whether this denigrating
quality in copperas proceedeth from an iron participation, or
rather in iron from a ^ntriolous communication ; or whether
black tinctures from metallical bodies be not from vitriolous
parts contained in the sulphur, since common sul2)hur con-
taineth also much vitriol, may admit consideration. However
in this way of tincture, it seemeth plain, tliat iron and vitriol
are the powerful denigrators.^

Such a condition there is naturally in some living creatures.
Thus that black humour by Aristotle named ^o\vc, and com-
monly translated atramentum, may be occasioned in the
cuttle-fish. Such condition there is naturally in some plants,
as blackberries, walnut-rinds, black cherries ; whereby they
extinguish inilammations, corroborate the stomach, and are
esteemed specifical in the epilepsy. Such an atramentous
condition there is to be found sometime in the blood, when
that which some call acetum, vitriolum, concurs with parts
prepared for this tincture. And so from these conditions
the Moors might possibly become Negroes, receiving atra-
mentous impressions in some of those ways, whose possibility
is by us declared.

Nor is it strange that we affirm there are vitriolous parts,
qualities, and even at some distance vitriol itself in living
bodies ; for there is a sour stiptick salt diffused through the
earth, which passing a concoction in plants, becometh
milder and more agreeable unto the sense ; and this is that
vegetable vitriol, whereby divers plants contain a grate-
ful sharpness, as lemons, pomegranates, cherries ; or an
' But whether, t£'t'.] First added in 3rd edition.

CHAP. XII.] A DIOBESSION CONCEENING BLACKNESS, 203

austere and inconcocted roughness, as sloes, medlars, and
quinces. And that not only vitriol is a cause of blackness,
but the salts of natural bodies do carry a powerful stroke in
the tincture and varnish of all things, we shall not deny, if
we contradict not experience, and the visible art of dyers,
who advance and graduate their colours with salts.'* Tor
the decoctions of simples which bear the visible colours of
bodies decocted, are dead and evanid, without the commix-
tion of alum, argol, and the like. And this is also apparent
in chemical preparations. So cinnabar^ becomes red by the
acid exhalation of sulphur, which otherwise presents a pure
and niveous white. So spirits of salt upon a blue paper
make an orient red. So tartar,^ or vitriol upon an infusion
of violets affords a delightful crimson. Thus it is wonderful
what variety of colours the spirits of saltpetre, and especially,
if they be kept in a glass while they pierce the sides thereof;
I say, what orient greens they will project. Prom the like
spirits in the earth the plants thereof perhaps acquire their
verdure. And from such solary* irradiations may those
wondrous varieties arise, which are observable in animals,
as mallard's heads, and peacock's feathers, receiving intention
or alteration according as they are presented unto the light.

Thus saltpetre, ammoniack, and mineral spirits emit delect-
able and various colours ; and common aqua fortis will in
some green and narrow-monthed glasses, about the verges
thereof, send forth a deep and gentianella blue.

Thus have we at last drawn our conjectures unto a period ;
wherein if our contemplations afford no satisfaction unto
others, I hope our attempts will bring no condemnation on
ourselves : for (besides that adventures in knowledge are
laudable, and the essays of weaker heads afford oftentimes
improveable hints unto better), although in this long journey
we miss the intended end, yet are there many things of
truth disclosed by the way ; and the collateral verity may
unto reasonable speculations somewhat requite the capitjil
indiscovery.

* Whence the colours of plants, &c. may arise.

* saltsJ] And allums, which are a kind of salte. — Wr.

* cinnahar.] Soe the oyle of tartar poured on the filing of Brasil
wood make an excellent red inke. — Wr.

* tartar.] A drop of the oyle of sulphur turns conserve of red rosei
into a acarlat. — Wr.

234 OF GYPSIES. [book vl

CHAPTER XIII.7

Of Gypsies.

GrEEAT \ronder it is not, we are to seek, in the original of
Ethiopians, and. natural Negroes, being also at a loss con-
cerning the original of Gypsies^ and counterfeit Moors,
observable in many parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

'' Chap. xiii. & xiv. first appeared in Snd edition.

* concerning the original of Gypsies.] This question, unlike the greater
number of those which have occupied the attention of Sir Thomas,
would seem less and less likely to be answered, as years roll on. While
the progress of science and the discoveries which reward the patience
and acuteness of modern investigation, are daily affording us satis-
factory explanations of various phenomena in nature, the origin of
Gypsies is a question which the lapse of time is daily removing further
from our reach. Little has therefore been done towards its solution,
but to collect and compare former opinions and speculations. The cri-
terion, which seems the most to be relied upon, is that of language.
Sir Thomas gives us no authority for his assertion that the dialect of
the Gypsies is Sclavonian : an assertion which inclines him to the
opinion that they came originally from the north of Europe. A very
different theory was suggested by Biittner, and advocated after great
labour and research -wdth every appearance of probability, by Grellman.
He has given a comparative vocabulary showing a striking affinity
between the Gj'jjsy and Hindoostanee languages. Captain Richardson,
in the Asiatic Researches (vol. vii. p. 451), has carried the point still
further, and established an affinity between them and a tribe in India,
called the Bazeegurs, Professor Pallaf and other writers have remarked
this similarity of language. Dr. Pritchard is decidedly of opinion
that their origin was Indian. Mr. Hoyland, of Sheffield, with the
benevolent object of bettering their condition, took great pains some
years ago to investigate their history, and especially their present
state ; and published a volume on this subject, entitled, "A Historical
Swvey of the Customs, Habits, and Present State of the Gypsies,"
8vo. York, 1816.

Brand (in his Observations on Popndar Antiquities, vol. ii. 432) speaks
of the Gypsies as of Hindoo origin, probably of the lowest caste, called
Pariars, or Suders ; and says, they probably emigrated about 140S, in
consequence of the conquests of Tinmr Beg. Park mentions a wan-
dering tribe named Lihey, whom he had seen in his travels in Africa,
very similar in their habits and customs to the Gypsies. A different
solution has b^^en proposed by an anonymous writer in the Gentleman's
Magazine (vol. Ixxii. 291), who thinks it very pj-obable that they are
the fulfilment of the prophecy in Gen. xvi. respecting the descendants

CHAP. XIII.] or GIPSIES. 205

Common opinion derivetli them from Egypt, and from
tlience they derive themselves, according to their own
account hereof, as Munster discovered in the letters and pass
which they obtained from Sigismund the emperor. That
they first came out of lesser Egypt,, that having defected
from the Christian rule, and relapsed unto pagan rites, some
of every family were enjoined this penance to wander about
the world. Or, as Aventinus delivereth, they pretend for
this vagabond course a judgment of God upon their fore-
fathers, who refused to entertain the Virgin Mary and Jesus,
when she fled into their country.

Which account notwithstanding is of little probability :

of Ishmael. He observes that they inhabited in the first place the
wilderness of Paran ; that they increased prodigiously, and, under the
appellation of Al Arab al inosfd-reba, or institious Arabs, hived off from
Arabia Deserta and Petrsea, then too naiTow to contain them, into the
neighbouring country of Egypt. So that both the African and Asiatic
shores of the Red Sea became inhabited by these nomadic Arabs. He
therefore rather inclines to suppose the Gypsies, who made their appear-
ance in Europe in the early part of the 15th century, to have been a
migration of these Arabs, whose country had been the theatre of the
ferocious contests between Tamerlane and Bajazet — than to have been
Suders driven from India by Timur Beg. In corroboration of his
theory he remarks, the greater propinquity of Arabia and Egypt to
Europe. He concludes by noticing a subsequent migration led from
Egypt, a century later, by Zinganeus — when that country was invaded
by Solyman the Great.

The appellations Egyptians and Zinganees are readily accounted for on
the supposition of this writer. We are not, after all, perhaps, precluded
from availing ourselves, to a certain extent, of both theories.

An amusing account ia given, in the Gentleman's Magazine, for Dec.
1801, of a Gypsy supper in the New Forest. Dr. Knox relates, in his
last Winter Evening, the following incident, in proof of the piety of the
Gypsies: "A large party had requested leave to rest their weary
limbs, during the night, in the shelter of a barn ; and the owner took
the opportunity of listening to their conversation. He found their
last employment at night, and their first in the morning, was prayer.
And though they could teach their children nothing else, they taught
them to supplicate, in an uncouth but pious language, the assistance of
a friend, in a world where the distinctions of rank are little regarded.
I have been credibly infonned, that these poor neglected brethren are
very devout, and remarkably disposed to attribute all events to the
interposition of a particular Providence."

It may be doubted, perhaps, with too much probability, whether hia
benevolent inference in their favour would be borne out by more inti-
mate acquaintance with their general character.

206 OF GYPSIES. [book TI.

for the general stream of writers, who enquire into their ori-
ginal, insist not upon this ; and are so little satisfied in their
descent from Egypt, that they deduce them from several
other nations. Polydore Virgil accounting them originally
Syrians ; Philippus Bergomas fetcheth them from Chaldea ;
Eneas Sylvius from some part of Tartary ; Bellonius no fur-
ther than Wallachia and Bulgaria ; nor Aventinus than the
confines of Hmigaria.*

That they are no Egyptians, BeUonius maketh evident :t'
who met great droves of Gypsies in Egypt, about Grand,
Cairo, Mr.tserea, and the villages on the banks of Nilus, who
notwithstanding were accounted strangers unto that nation,
and wanderers from foreign parts, even as they are esteemed
•with us.

That they came not out of Eg}^)t is also probable, because
their first appearance was in Germany, since the year 1.400 ;
nor were tbey observed before in other parts of Europe,
as is deducible from Munster, Genebrard, Crantsius, and
Ortilius.

But that they first set out not far from Germany, is also
probable from their language, which was the Sclavonian
tongue ; and when they wandered afterward into France,
they were commonly called Bohemians, which name is still
retained for Gypsies. And therefore when Crantsius deli-
vereth, they first a])peared about the Baltick Sea; when
BeUonius deriveth them from Bulgaria and WaUachia, and
others from about Hungaria, they speak not repugnantly
hereto : for the language of those nations was Sclavonian, at
least some dialect thereof

But of what nation soe\'er they were at first, they are now
almost of all : associating unto them some of every country
where they wander. AVhen they will be lost, or whether at
all again, is not without some doubt ; for unsettled nations i
have out-lasted others of fixed habitations. And though
Gypsies have been banished by most Christian princes, yetj
have they found some coimtenance from the great Turk, who I
suftereth them to live and maintain publick stews near the]
imperial city in Pera, of whom he often maketh a politick!
advantage, employing them as spies into other nations, under!
which title they were banished by Charles the Eifth.

■ * Feywind. de Cwdaa didascal. multipl. t Observat, 1. 2.

CHAP. XIV.] or GYPSIES AND OTHEES. 207

CHAPTEE XIV.

Of some others.

We commonly accuse the fancies of elder times in the im-
proper figures of heaven assigned unto constellations, which
do not seem to answer them, either in Grreek or Barbarick
spheres. Tet equal incongruities have been commonly com-
mitted by geographers and historians, in tlie figural. resem-
blances of several regions on earth. While by Livy and
.Tulius E-usticus the island of Britain is made to resemble a
long dish or two-edged axe : Italy by Numatianus to be like
an oak-leaf, and Spain an ox-hide ; while the fancy of Strabo
makes the habitated earth like a cloak : and Dionysius Afer
will have it like a sling ; with many others observable in good
writers,* yet not made out from the letter or signification : —
acquitting astronomy in the figures of the zodiack ; wherein
they are not justified unto strict resemblances, but rather
made out from the effects of sun or moon in these several
portions of heaven, or from peculiar influences of those con-
stellations, which some way make good their names.

Whi'h notwithstanding being now authentic by prescrip-
tion, 11 ay be retained in their naked acceptions, and names
translated from substances known on earth. And there-
fore the learned Hevelius, iu his accurate Selenography, or
description of the moon, hath well translated the known
appellations of regions, seas, and mountains, unto the parts
of that luminary ; and rather than use invented names or
human denominations, with wdtty congruity hath placed
Mount Sinai, Taurus, Maeotis Pal us, the Mediterranean Sea,
Mauritania, Sicily, and Asia Minor in the moon.

More hardly can we find the Hebrew letters in the heavens
made out of the greater and lesser stars, which put together
do make up words, wherein cabalistieal speculators conceive
they read events of future things.f And how, from the stars
in the head of Medusa, to make out the word Charab,

* Tacit, de vita Jul. Agric. Jimctin. in Sph. I. de Sacro bosco, cap. 2.
+ The cabala of the stars.

208 or GYPSIES AND OTHERS. [bOOK TT.

and thereby desolation presignified unto Greece or Javan
numerally characterized in that word, requireth no rigid
reader.*

It is not easy to reconcile the different accounts of lon-
gitude, while in modern tables the hundred and eightieth
degree is more than thirty degrees beyond that part where
Ptolemy placeth an 180. Nor will the wider and more
western term of longitude, from whence the moderns begin
their commensuration, sufficiently salve the difference, f
The ancients began the measure of longitude from the For-
tunate Islands or Canaries, the moderns from the Azores or
islands of St. Michael ; but since the Azores are but fifteen
degrees more west, why the moderns should reckon 180,
where Ptolemy accounteth above 220, or though they take
in fifleen degrees at the west, why they should reckon thirty
at the east, beyond the same measure, is yet to be deter-
mined, nor would it be much advantaged, if we should con-
ceive that the compute of Ptolemy were not so agreeable
unto the Canaries, as the Hesperides or islands of Capo
Verde. J

Whether the compute of months from the first appearance
of the moon, which divers nations have followed, be not a
more perturbed way than that which accounts from the con-
junction may seem of reasonable doubt ;§ not only from the
uncertainty of its appearance in foul and cloudy weather,
but unequal time in any, that is, sooner or later, according
as the moon shaU be in the signs of long descension, as
Pisces, Aries, Taurus, in the perigeum or swiftest motion,
and in the northern latitude ; whereby sometimes it may be
seen the very day of the change, as did observably happen,
1654, in the months of April and May. Or whether also
the compute of the day be exactly made from the visible
arising or setting of the sun, because the sun is sometimes
naturally set, and under the horizon, when visibly it is
above it ; from the causes of refraction, and such as make us
behold a piece of silver in a bason, when water is put upon
it, which we could not discover before, as under the verge
thereof.

* Qre§arel out of R. Cliomer. f A than. Kircher. in proaemio.
X Robertus Rues de r/lobis. § Hevel. Selenog. cap. 9.

CHAP. XIV.] OP GYPSIES AND OTHEES, 209

Whether the globe of the earth be but a point in respect
of the stars and firmament, or how if the rays thereof do fall
upon a point, they are received in such variety of angles,
appearing greater or lesser from difterences of refraction ?

Whether if the motion of the heavens should cease awhile,
all things would instantly perish ; and whether this assertion
doth not make the frame of sublunary things to hold too
loose a dependency upon the first and conserving cause, at
least impute too much unto the motion of the heavens,
whose eminent activities are by heat, light, and influence,
the motion itself being barren, or chiefly serving for the due
application of celestial virtues unto sublunary bodies, as
Cabeus hath learnedly observed.

Whether comets or blazing stars be generally of such
terrible effects, as elder times have conceived them ; ^ for
since it is found that many, from whence these predictions
are drawn, have been above the moon, why tliey may not be
qualified from their positions, and aspects which they hold
with stars of favoiu^able natures, or why, since they may be
conceived to arise from the effluviums of other stars, they
may not retain the benignity of their originals ; or since the
natures of the fixed stars are astrologically differenced by the
planets, and are esteemed martial or jovial, according to the
colours whereby they answer these planets, why, although
the red comets do carry the portentious of Mars, the brightly
white should not be of the influence of Jupiter or Venus,
' answerably unto Cor Scorpii and Arcturus, is not absurd to
1 doubt.

j ^ Whether comets, <tr.] Aristotle considered them to be accidental
I fires or meteors, kindled in the atmosphere. Kepler supposed them to
' be monsters, generated in celestial space !

' Dr. Thomas Burnet says, that the comets seem to him to be nothing
else but (as one may say) the dead bodies of the fixed stars unburied,
,f and not as yet composed to rest ; they, like shadows, wander up and
I down through the various regions of the heavens, till they have found
' out fit places for their residence, which having pitched upon, they stop
'' their irregular course, and being turned into planets, move circularly
i' about some star. — Charles Blount'' s Miscellaneous Works, p. 63.
I Tycho Brahe first ascertained, by observations on the comet of 1577,
[I that comets are permanent bodies, like the planets.

TOL. 11.

THE SEVENTH BOOK:

THE PARTICULAR PART CONCLUDED.

OF POPULAR AND EECEIVED TENETS, CHIEFLY HISTOEICAL, ABD
SOME DEDUCED FEOM THE HOLY SCEIPTUEES.

CHAPTEE I.

Tliat the Forbidden Fruit was an Apple.

That tlie forbidden frmt of Paradise was an apple, is
commonly believed, coniirmed by tradition, perpetuated by
writings, verses, pictures ; and some have been so bad pro-
sodians, as from thence to derive the Latin word malum,
because that fruit was the first occasion of evil : wherein not-
withstanding determinations are presumptuous, and many
I perceive are of another belief. For some have conceived
it a vine ;i in the mystery of whose fruit lay the expiation
of the transgression. Groropius Becanus, reviving the conceit
of Barcephas, peremptorily conciudeth it. to be the Indian
fig-tree, and by a witty allegory labours to confirm the same.
Again, some fruits pass under the name of Adam's apples,
•which in common acception admit not that appellation : the
one described by Matthiolus under the name of Pomum
Adami, a very fair fruit, and not unlike a citron, but some-
what rougher, chopped and crannied, vulgarly conceived the
marks of Adam's teeth : another, the fruit of tliat plant
wliich Serapion termeth Musa, but the eastern Christians
commonly the apples of Paradise ; not resembling an apple
in figure, and in taste a melon or cucumber.^ Which fruits

' a vine.] By the fatal influence of whose fruit the nakedness both
of Adam and of Noah were exposed. See the Targum of Jonathan.

- again, A-C] Tlie fruit-shops of London exhibit a large kind of
citron labelled, Forbidden Fruit, respecting which, and the Pomum
4.dami of Matthiolus, I have the following obliging and satisfactory

CHAP. I.] AN APPLE THE FOEBIDDEN FEUIT. 211

although they have received appellations suitable unto the
tradition, yet we cannot from thence infer they were this
fruit in question. JSTo more than Arbor vitcB, so commonly
called, to obtain its name from the tre.e of life in Paradise,
or Arhor Jud(B, to be the same which supplied the gibbet
unto Judas.

Again, there is no determination in the text ; wherein is
only particularised, that it was the fruit of a tree good for
food, and pleasant unto the eye, in which regards many excel
the apple : and therefore learned men do wisely conceive it
inexplicable ; and Philo puts determination unto despair,
when he affirmeth the same kind of fruit was never pro-
duced since. Surely were it not requisite to have been con-
cealed, it had not passed unspecified ; nor the tree revealed
which concealed their nakedness, and that concealed which
revealed it ; for in the same chapter mention is made of fig-
leaves. And the like particulars, although they seem tin-
circumstantial, are oft set down in Holy Scripture ; so is it
specified that Elias sat under a juniper- tree, Absalom hanged
by an oak, and Zaccheus got up into a sycamore.

And although, to condemn such indeterminables, unto him
that demanded on what hand Venus was wounded, the phi-
losopher thought it a sufiicient resolution, to re-inquire upon
what leg King Philip halted ; and the Jews not undoubtedly
resolved of the sciatica side of Jacob, do cautiously in their
diet abstain from the sinews of both j^ yet are there many
nice particulars which may be authentically determined.
That Peter cut off the right ear of Malchus, is beyond all
doubt. That our Saviour eat the Passover in an upper
room, we may determine from the text. And some we may
concede which the Scripture plainly defines not. That the
dial of Ahaz** was placed upon the west side of the temple,

; notice from my friend Professor Lindley : — " The forbidden fruit of the

London markets is a variety of the Citrus decunmna, and is in fact a

I small sort of shaddock. But as to the Pomum, Adami, no one can

I make out exactly what it was. The common Italian Poino cl'Adamo is

; a variety of Citrus limetta : that of Paris is a thick-skinned orange ;

and at least three other things have been so called. I do not think it

possible to ascertain what Matthiolus meant beyond the fact that it

was a Citrus of some kind."

* of both.] And this superstition befooles them alike in both. — Wr.

* dial of Ahaz.] Suggestions have been made respecting this, aa

p2

212 AN APPLE THE FORBIDDEK ERriT. [bOOK TII.

we will not deny, or contradict the description of Adrico-
mius ; that xlbraham's servant put his hand under his right
thigh, we shall not question ; and that the thief on the right
hand was saved, and the other on the left reprobated, to make
good the method of the last judicial dismission, we are ready
to admit. But surely in vain we inquire of what wood waa
Moses' rod, or the tree that sweetened the waters. Or, though
tradition or human histoiy might aftbrd some light, whether
the crown of thorns was made oi paliurus ; whether the cross
of Christ were made of those four woods in the distich of
Durantes,* or only of oak, according unto Lipsius and
Goropius, we labour not to determine. Por though hereof
prudent symbols and pious allegories be made by wiser
conceivers ; yet common heads will fly unto superstitious
applications, and hardly avoid miraculous or magical
expectations.

Now the ground or reason that occasioned this expression
by an apple, might be the community of this fruit, and which
is often taken for any other. So the goddess of gardens is
termed Pomona ; so the proverb expresseth it, to give apples
unto Alcinous ; so the fruit which Paris decided was called
an apple ; so in the garden of Hesperides (which many con-
ceive a fiction drawn from Paradise) we read of golden
apples guarded by the dragon. And to speak strictly in
this appellation, they placed it more safely than any other;
for, beside the great variety of apples, the word in Greek
comprehendeth oranges,^ lemons, citrons, quinces ; and as
Ruellius defineth,t such fruits as have no stone within, and
a soft covering without ; excepting the pomegranate ; and

* Pes Cedrus est, tnmcus Cujpressus, Oliva supremum, Palmaqiie trans-
versum Ohristi sunt in cruce lignwm.

f Ruel. De Stirpium Natura.

well as some other miracles, wliich seem to me to proceed too much on
the principle of endeavouring to lessen them, so as to bring them within
the compass of belief. Thus the dial only, not the sun, is supposed to
have gone backwards ; and that not really, but only apparently, — by a
"miraculous refi'action." Is it not better to take the literal meaning,
content to believe that to omnipotence one miracle is no greater than
another ?

* wcyrd in Gveeh.^ Not only in Greeke but in Latin also, all these are
cald by the very name of apple trees, 3.BAIalv^ aurantia, citria, cydonia,
(jranata. — Wr.

CHAP. I.] AN APPLE THE FORBIDDEN FETJIT. 213

will extend much further in the acception of Spigelius,* who
compreheudeth all round fruits uuder the name of apples,
not excluding nuts and plums. ^

It hath been promoted in some constructions from a pas-
sage in the Canticles, as it runs in the Vulgar translation, Suh
arbore malo suscitavi te, ihi corrupta est mater tua, ibi violata
est genitrix fua.f Which words, notwithstanding paraboli-
cally intended, admit no literal inference, and are of little
force in our translation : " I raised thee under an apple-tree,
there thy mother brought thee forth, there she brought thee
forth that bare thee." So when, from a basket of summer
fruits or apples, as the Vulgar rendereth them, God by Amos
foretold the destruction of his people, we cannot say they
had any reference luito the fruit of Paradise, which was the
destruction of man ; but thereby was declared the propin-
quity of their desolation, and that their tranquillity was of no
longer duration than those horary J. or soon-decaying fruits
of summer. Nor, when it is said in the same translation,
Poma desiderii animcs tticd discesserunt a te, — " the apples
that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee," is there
any allusion therein unto the fruit of Paradise ; but thereby
is threatened imto Babylon, that the pleasures and delights
of their palate should forsake them. And we read in Pierius,
that an apple was the hieroglyphick of love, and that the
statue of Venus was made with one in her hand. So the
little cupids in the figures of Philostratus § do play with
apples in a garden ; and there want not some who have
symbolized the apple of Paradise unto such constructions.^

Since therefore after this fruit, curiosity fruitlessly in-
quireth, and confidence blindly determineth, we shall sur-
cease our inquisition ; rather troubled that it was tasted,
than troubling ourselves in its decision ; this only we observe,
when things are left uncertain, men will assure them by
determination. Which is not only verified concerning the
fruit, but the serpent that persuaded ; many defining the
kind or species thereof. So Bonaventure and Comestor

* Isagoge in rem Herbariam. + Cant. viii.

J Fructns bonei. § Philostrat. figure vi. Dc amoribus.

^ and will extend, <f:c.] First added in 2nd edition.
' So the Utde cupids, &cJ] First added in 2nd edition.

214 MAN HATH ONE BIB LESS THAN WOMAN. [bOOK YII.

affirm it was a dragon, Engubinus a basilisk, Delrio a viper,
and others a common snake.^ Wherein men still continue
the delusion of the serpent, who ha\Tng deceived Eve in the
main, sets her posterity on work to mistake in the circum-
stance, and endeavours to propagate errors at any hand.
And those he surely most desireth which concern either God
or himself; for they dishonom* God, who is absolute truth
and goodness ; but for himself, who is extremely e\Tl, and
the worst we can conceive, by aberration of conceit they
may extenuate his depravity, and ascribe some goodness unto
hun.

CHAPTEE II.

That a Man hath one Rib less than a Woman.

That a man hath one rib less than a woman, is a common
conceit, derived from the history of Genesis, wherein it stands
deUvered, that Eve was framed out of a rib of Adam ; whence
it is concluded the sex of men still wants that rib our father
lost in Eve. And this is not only passant with the many, but
was urged against Columbus in an anatomy of his at Pisa,
where having prepared the skeleton of a woman that chanced
to have thirteen ribs on one side, there arose a party that
cried him do^Ti, and even unto oaths affirmed, this was the
rib wherein a woman exceeded. AYere this true, it would
ocularly silence that dispute out of which side Eve was framed;
it would determine the opinion of Oleaster, that she was made
out of the ribs of both sides, or such as from the expression
of the text * maintain there was a plurality of ribs required ;
and might indeed decry the parabolical exposition of Origen,
Cajetan, and such as fearing to concede a monstrosity, or
mutilate the integrity of Adam, preventively conceive the
creation of thirteen ribs.

But this wiU not consist with reason or inspection. For if
we survey the skeleton of both sexes, and therein the compage
of bones, we shall readily discover that men and women have
* Os ex ossibus meis.

* snaJx.^ Itt seemes to bee none of these but rather that species
which Scaliger, the gi-eat secretary of nature, with noe reference to this
Btorye, wittily cals (Exercitat. 226, §) tyxtXavOjowTrpve. — Wr.

CHAP. II.] MAN HATH ONE EIB LESS THAN WOMAN. 215

four and twenty ribs ; that is, twelve on each side, seven
greater, annexed uuto the sternon, and five lesser which come
short thereof. Wherein if it sometimes happen that either
sex exceed, the conformation is irregular, deflecting from
the common rate or number, and no more inferrible upon
mankind than the monstrosity of the son of Kapha, or the
vitious excess in the number of fingers and toes. And
although some diflerence there be in figure, and the female
OS innominatum be somewhat more protuberant, to make a
fairer cavity for the infant ; the coccyx sometime more re-
flected, to give the easier delivery ; and the ribs themselves
seem a little flatter ; yet are they equal in number. And
therefore, while Aristotle doubteth the relations made of
nations, which had but seven ribs on a side, and yet deliver-
eth, that men have generally no more than eight ; as he
rejecteth their history, so can we not accept of his anatomy.
Again, although we concede there wanted one rib in the
skeleton of Adam, yet were it repugnant unto reason and
common observation that his posterity should want the same.
For we observe that mutilations are not transmitted from
father unto son ; the blind begetting such as can see, men
with one eye children with two, and cripples mutilate in
their own persons do come out perfect in their generations.
For the seed conveyeth with it not only the extract and
single idea of every part, whereby it transmits their perfec-
tions or infirmities ; but double and over again ; whereby
sometimes it multipliciously delineates the same, as in
twins, in mixed and numerous generations. Parts of the
seed do seem to contain the idea and power of the whole ;
so parents deprived of hands beget manual issues, and the
defect of those parts is supplied by the idea of others. So
in one grain of corn appearing similarly and insufficient for
a plural germination, there lieth dormant the virtuality of
many other ; and from thence sometimes proceed above an
hundred ears. And thus may be made out the cause of
multiparous productions ; for though the seminal materials
disperse and separate in the matrix, the formative operator
will not delineate a part, but endeavovu" the formation of the
whole ; effecting the same as far as the matter mil permit,
and from dividing materials attempt entii'e formations. And
therefore, though wondrous strange, it may not be impossible

216 OF METHUSELAH. [bOOK VII.

■wliat is confirmed at Lausdun concerning the countess of
Holland ; nor what Albertus reports of the birth of an
hundred and fifty. And if we consider the magnalities of
generation in some things,^ we shall not controvert its pos-
sibilities in others: nor easily question that great work,
whose wonders are only second unto those of the creation,
and a close apprehension of the one, might perhaps afford a
glimmering light, and crepusculous glance of the other.

CHAPTER III.

Of Methuselah.

"What hath been eveiy where opinioned by all men, and
in all times, is more than paradoxical to dispute ; and so,
that Methuselah was the longest liver of all the posterity of
Adam, we quietly believe : but that he must needs be so, is
perhaps below paralogy to deny.^ For hereof there is no
determination from the text ; wherein it is only particularised
he was the longest liver of all the patriarchs whose age is
there expressed ; but that he out-lived all others, we cannot
well conclude.- For of those nine whose death is mentioned

9 And if we consider, d-c] "Many things are useful and convenient,
which are not necessary : and if God had seen man might not want it,
how easy had it been for him which made the woman of that bone, to
turn the flesh into another bone? But he saw man could not com-
plain of the want of that bone, which he had so multiplied, so animated.
O God, we can never be losers by thy changes, we have nothing but
what is thine, take from us thine own when thou wilt ; we are sure thou
canst not but give us better ! " — Bj:). Hall's Contemj}. book i. chap. 2.

' is jicrhaps heloxo jMi-alogij to deny.] " To deny it is not hastily to be
condemned as false reasoning."

' we cannot, <tc.] If the learned author had looked into the text.
Gen. V. hee woulde have dasht this unnecessary and frivolous discourse,
for in that the Holy Ghost does particularly mention all the 9 patriarchs'
ao-es, as of men to whom God gave such long life for the peopling of the
world : and tooke away all the rest of the world, not only in Caine's
race but in all the other patriarchal familyes, men, women, and children,
that they might not live to propagate that wickedness which had over-
spread the world by the marriage of Seth's posterityes with Caine's
female issue. Itt is fit to beleeve that God would never grant to any
of Caine's posterity longer live then to the longest liver among the
patriarchs, when he intended to cutt off even that life of theirs whicll

CHAP. III.] OF METHUSELAH. 217

before the flood, the text espresseth that Enoch was the
shortest liver ; who saw but three hundred sixty-five years.
But to afiirm from hence, none of the rest, whose age is not
expressed, did die before that time, is surely an illation
whereto we cannot assent.

Again many persons there were in those days of longevity,
of whose age notwithstanding there is no account in Scrip-
ture ; as of the race of Cain, the wives of the nine patriarchs,
with all the sons and daugliters that every one begat :
whereof perhaps some persons might out-live Methuselah ;
the text intending only the masculine line of Seth, con-
ducible unto the genealogy of our Saviour, and the antedi-
luvian chronology. And therefore we must not contract the
lives of those which are left in silence by Moses ; for neither
is the age of Abel expressed in the Scripture, yet is he con-
ceived far elder than commonly opinioned ; and if we allow
the conclusion of his epitaph as made by Adam, and so set
down by Salian, Posuit incerens pater, cui a filio justius
positum foret, anno ah ortu rerum 130 ; ab Ahele nato 129,
we shall not need to doubt. AVhich notwithstanding
Cajetan and others confirm ; nor is it improbable, if we con-
ceive that Abel was born in the second year of Adam,^ and
Seth a year after the death of Abel ; for so it being said,
that Adam was an hundred and tliirty years old when he
begat Seth, Abel must perish the year before, which was one
hundred and twenty-nine.

And if the account of Cain'* extend unto the deluge, it
may not be improbable that some thereof exceeded any of
Seth. Nor is it unlikely in life, riches, power, and temporal
blessings, they might surpass them in this world, whose

hee permitted them to prolong till their sinns were fulfild : and there-
fore tooke away Mathuselah also the yeare that hee sent the flood to
take away all (universally) then living, save Noah and his immediate
family. — ■ Wr.

^ second year, ttc] Abel's birth is not deducible necessarily from
Scripture : his death is more probable. — Wr.

* Cain.'] Betweene the creation and the flood were 1656 yeares, to
which, though Cain's owne accompt did not reach, yet his posteritye
did. For upon them was the flood sent, yet not on them onlye, for
aU the posterityes of the patriarchal familyes, which doubtless were
innumerable, did all perish in the flood, excepting only eight persons.
— Wr.

218 OF METHUSELAH. fsoOK TIT.

lives related unto the next. For so when the seed of Jacob
was under affliction and captivity, that of Ishmael and Esau
flourished and grew mighty, there proceeding from the one
twelve princes, from the other no less than fourteen dukes
and eight kings. And whereas the age of Cain and his
posterity is not delivered in the text, some do salve it from
the secret method of Scripture, which sometimes whoUy
omits, but seldom or never delivers the entire duration of
wicked and faithless persons, as is observable in the history
of Esau, and the kings of Israel and Judah. And therefore
when mention is made that Ishmael lived 127 years, some
conceive he adhered unto the faith of Abraham, for so did
others who were not descended from Jacob, for Job is
thought to be an Idumean, and of the seed of Esau.

Lastly, although we rely not thereon, we will not omit
that conceit urged by learned men, that Adam was elder^
than Methuselah ; inasmuch as he was created in the perfect
age of man, which was in those days 50 or 60 years, for about
that time we read that they begat children ; so that if unto
930 we add 60 years, he will exceed Methuselah ; and there-
fore if not in length of days, at least in old age he surpassed
others ; he was older than all, who was never so young as
any. For though he knew old age, he was never acquainted
with puberty, youth, or infancy, and so in a strict account
he begat children at one year old. And if the usual com-
pute will hold, that men are of the same age which are born
within compass of the same year, Eve was as old as her hus-
band and parent Adam, and Cain, their son, coetaneous unto
both.

Now that conception, that no man^ did ever attain unto

* Adam was eldei'.'\ This phrase, as itt is commonly used, signifies
elder in time, and then itt sayes nothing, for who denyes itt ? But in
lengthe of dayes from the birthe Adam was not soe old as Mathu-
selah by 20 yeares.— W>:

^ that no man, itc] This is most true de facto, though the reason bee
but symbolical, and concludes nothing necessarilye. For granting that
Adam was created in the perfect age of man, as then itt was, which was
rather 100 then 60, yet he lived noe more then 930 in all, viz. solar,
sydereal, tropick years. To which if you add those hypothecall 60
yeares (for they are not reall but imaginary only), yet soe Adam
would not reach to 1000 by 10 yeares, and therefore the saying is most
time. — Wr.

CHAP. IV.] NO RAINBOW BEFOKE THE FLOOD. 219

a thousand years, because none should ever be one day old
in the sight of tlie Lord, unto whom, according to that of
David, " A thousand years are but one day," doth not
advantage Methuselah. And being deduced from a popular
expression, which will not stand a metaphysical and strict
examination, is not of force to divert a serious inquirer.
For unto God a thousand years are no more than one
moment, and in his sight Methuselah lived no nearer one
day than Abel, for all parts of time are alike unto him, unto
whom none are referrible, and all things present unto whom
nothing is past or to come ; and therefore, although we be
measured by the zone of time, and the flowing and continued
instants thereof do w'eave at last a line and circle about the
eldest, yet can we not thus commensurate the sphere of
Trismegistus,^ or sum up the unsuccessive and stable dura-
tion of Grod.

CHAPTEE ly.

That there tvas no Rainbow before tJie Flood,

That there shall no rainbow appear forty years before the
end of the world, and that the preceding drought unto that
great shame shall exhaust the materials of this meteor, was
an assertion grounded upon no solid reason ; but that there
was not any in sixteen hundred years, that is, before the
flood, seems deducible from Holy Scripture, Gen. ix., " I do
set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a
covenant between me and the earth." From whence not-
withstanding we cannot conclude the non-existence of the
rainbow, nor is that chronology naturally established, which
computeth the antiquity of eftects arising from physical and
settled causes, by additional impositions from voluntary
determinators. Now by the decree of reason and philosophy,
the rainbow hath its ground in nature, as caused by the rays
of the sun, falling vipon a rorid and opposite cloud, whereof
some reflected, others refracted, beget that semicircidar

^ sphere of Trismegistus.'\ Trismegistus sayd God was a circle, whose
center, that is, his presentiall and immutable essence, fi'om whence all
things have their beinge, is every where, but his circumference, that
is, his incomprehensible infinity, ia noe where. — Wr.

220 NO EA1>'B0W BEFORE THE ELOOD. [BOOK VII.

variety we generally call the rainbow, whicli must succeed
upon concurrence of causes and subjects aptly predisposed.
Ajid therefore to conceive there was no rainbow before,
because God chose this out as a token of the covenant, is to
conclude the existence of things from their signalities, or of
what is objected unto the sense, a coexistence with that
which is internally presented unto the understanding. With
equal reason we may infer there was no water before the
institution of baptism, nor bread and wine before the Holy
Eucharist.

Again, while men deny the antiquity of one rainbow, they
anciently concede another. For beside the solary iris which
Grod showed unto Noah, there is a 1 unary, whose efficient is
the moon, visible only in the night, most commonly called at
full moon, and some degrees above the horizon. JSTow the
existence hereof men do not controvert, although effected
by a difterent luminary in the same way with the other.
And probably it appeared later, as being of rare appearance
and rarer observation, and many there are which think there
is no such thing in nature ; and therefore by casiial spec-
tators they are looked upon like prodigies, and significations
made, not signified by their natures.

Lastly, we shall not need to conceive God made the rain-
bow at this time, if we consider that in its created and pre-
disposed nature, it was more proper for this signification,
than any other meteor or celestial appearancy whatsoever.
Thunder and lightning had too much terror to have been
tokens of mercy. Comets or blazing stars appear too seldom
to put us in mind of a covenant to be remembered often, and
might rather signify the world should be once destroyed by
fire, than never again by water. The galaxia or milky circle
had been more probable ; for beside that unto the latitude
of thirty, it becomes their horizon twice in four and twenty
hours, and unto such as live under the equator, in that space
the whole circle appeareth, part thereof is visible luito any
situation ; but being only discoverable in the night, and when
the air is clear, it becomes of luifrequent and comfortless
signification. A fixed star had not been visible unto all the
globe, and so of too narrow a signality in a covenanc con-
cerning all. But rainbows are seen unto all the world, and
every position of sphere. Unto our own elevation they may

CHAP. IV.] NO EAINBOW BEFORE THE FLOOD. 221

appear in the morning, while the sun hath attained about
forty-five degrees above the horizon, which is conceived the
largest semidiameter of any iris, and so in the afternoon when
it hath declined unto that altitude again, which height the
sun not attaining in winter, rainbows may happen with us
at noon or any time. Unto a right position of sphere they
may appear three houtJ after the rising of the sun, and three
before its setting ; for the sun ascending fifteen degrees an
hour, in three attaineth forty-five of altitude. Even unto a
parallel sphere, and such as live under the pole, for half a
year some segments may appear at any time and under any
quarter, the sun not setting but walking round about them.

But the propriety of its election most properly appeareth
in the natural signification and prognostic of itself; as con-
taining a mixed signality of rain and fair weather. For,
being in a rorid cloud and ready to drop, it declareth a plu-
vious disposure in the air ; but because, when it appears, the
sun must also shine, there can be no universal showers, and
consequently no deluge. Thus, when the windows of the
great deep were open, in vain men looked for the rainbow ;
for at that time it could not be seen, which after appeared
unto Noah. It might be therefore existent before the flood,
and had in nature some ground of its addition. Unto that
of nature God superadded an assurance of its promise, that
is, never to hinder its appearance or so to replenish the
heavens again, as that we should behold it no more. And
thus, without disparaging the promise, it might rain at the
same time when Grod showed it unto Noah ; thus was there
more therein than the heathens understood when they called
it the nuncia of the gods, and the laugh of weeping heaven ;*
and thus may be elegantly said, I put my bow, not my
arrow in the clouds, that is, in the menace of rain, the mercy
of fair weather.

Cabalistical heads, who from that expression in Isaiah, f do
make a book of heaven, and read therein the great concern-
ments of earth, do literally play on this, and from its semi-
circular figure (resembling the Hebi'ew letter caph, whereby
is signified the uncomfortable number of twenty, at which
years Joseph was sold, which Jacob lived under Laban, and

* Risus plorantis Olym/pi. "f Isa, xxxiv. 4

222 NO RATNBOW BEFOEE THE FLOOD. [BOOK VII.

at whicli men were to go to war), do note a propriety in its
signification ; as thereby declaring the dismal time of the
deluge. And Christian conceits do seem to strain as high,
■vrhile, from the irradiation of the sun upon a cloud, they
apprehend the mystery of the sun of righteousness ia the
obscurity of flesh, by the colours green and red, the two
destructions of the world by fire and water, or by the colours
of blood and water, the mysteries of baptism, and the Holy
Eucharist.^

Laudable therefore is the custom of the Jews, who upon
the appearance of the rainbow, do magnify the fidelity of
God in the memory of his covenant, according to that of
Syracides, " Look upon the rainbow, and praise him that
made it." And though some pious and Christian pens have
only symbolized the same from the mystery of its colours,
yet are there other affections which might admit of theo-
logical allusions. Nor would he find a more improper
subject, that should consider that the colours are made by
refraction of light, and the shadows that limit that light ;
that the centre of the sun, the rainbow, and the eye of the
beholder must be in one right line, that the spectator must
be between the sun and the rainbow, that sometime three
appear, sometime one reversed. With many others, con-
siderable in meteorological divmity, which would more
sensibly make out the epithet of the heathens,* and the
expression of the son of Syrach, " Very beautiful is the rain-
bow, it compasseth the heaven about with a glorious circle,
and the hands of the Moat High have bended it."

CHAPTEE V.

Of Shem, Ham, and Japhetk.
CoNCEENiNa the three sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth, that the order of their nativity was according to
that of enumeration,^ and Japheth, the youngest son (as
* Thaumancias.
* Cahalistical heads, dx.] The present paragraph was first added in
the 2nd edition, in which also tiie same subject was first noticed in the
last chapter of book vi.

" that the order of their nativity, &c.'\ Mr. C. T. Beke, in the 5th chapter

CHAP, v.] OP SHEM, HA.M, AND JAPHETH. 223

most believe, ae Austin and others account), the sons of
Japhetli, and Europeans need not grant, nor will it so well
concord unto the letter of the text, and its readiest interpre-
tations. For so is it said in our translation, Shem the
father of all the sons of Heber, the brother of Japheth the
elder, so by the Septuagint, and so by that of Tremellius.
And therefore when the Vulgar reads it, Fratre JapJiet
majore, the mistake, as Junius observeth, might be committed
by the neglect of the Hebrew accent, which occasioned
Jerome so to render it, and many after to believe it. Nor
is that argument contemptible which is deduced from their
chronology, for probable it is that Noah had none of them
before, and begat them from that year when it is said he
was five hundred years old, and begat Shem, Ham, and
Japheth. Again it is said he was six hundred years old at
the flood, and that two years after Shem was but an hundred ;
therefore Shem must have been born when Noah was five
hundi'ed and two, and some other before in the year of five
hundred and one.

of his Origines BihliccB, takes some pains to prove not only that Shem
and not Japheth was Noah's eldest son (a point admitting some contro-
versy), but that "the order in which the names of these three great
progenitors of the human species are invariably placed when mentioned
together in the sacred volume, may therefore be regarded as the order
of their birth." Whereas "it is plainly delivered," as Sir Thomas
remarks, that Ham, whose name stands invariably second, was the
youngest son — a fact which absolutely overthrows this argument in
favour of Shem's primogeniture, leaving the way open to consideration
on other grounds. Mr. Beke contends that its probability is " strength-
ened by the situation of the country, which, in his opinion, was occu-
pied by Shem and his descendants, namely, that in which Noah himself
resided, while the possessions of Ham and Japheth, Shem's younger
brothers, were situated, as they would naturally be imagined to have
been, on either side of the paternal seat." He further endeavours to
invalidate the argument against Shem's seniority, drawn from the
10th Gen. ver. 21, — " unto Shem also the father of all the children of
Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder," — by an examination of similar
passages which would admit, if not favour the interpretation which Sir
Thomas notices, as given to this passage by the Vulgate and others,
viz., "the elder brother of Japheth." Neither does he admit the chro-
nology to be conclusive against Shem, but concludes, after a lengthened
consideration of the point, that " there could not have been a sufficient
interval between the 500th year of Noah's life, and the birth of the
father of Arphaxad (Shem), to allow of the intervention of an
elder son."

224 OF SHEM, HAM, AND JAPHETH, [BOOK Til.

Now whereas the Scripture affordeth the priority of order
unto Shem, we cannot from thence infer his primogemture.
For in Shem the holy line was continued, and therefore,
however born, his genealogy was most remarkable. So is
it not unusual in Holy Scripture to nominate the younger
before the elder. So it is said, that Terah begat Abraham,*
Nachor, and Haram ; whereas Haram was the eldest.
So Eebeccaf is termed the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Nor is it strange the younger should be first in nomination,
who have commonly had the priority in the blessings of
Grod, and been first in his benediction. So Abel was
accepted before Cain, Isaac the younger preferred before
Ishmael the elder, Jacob before Esau, Joseph was the
youngest of twelve, and Dav-id the eleventh son and minor
cadet of Jesse.

Lastly, though Japheth were not elder than Shem, yet
must we not affirm that he was younger than Cham ; for it
is plainly delivered, that, after Shem and Japheth had
covered Noah, he awaked and knew what his youngest son
had done unto him ; vide 6 vewrepog is the expression of the
Septuagint, Filius minor of Jerome, and minimus of Tre-
mellius. And upon these grounds perhaps Josephus doth
vary from the Scripture enumeration, and nameth them
Shem, Japheth, and Cham : which is also observed by the
Annian Berosus, Noah cum tribus Jiliis, Semo, Jepeto,
Cliem.. And therefore, although in the priority of Shem
and Japheth, there may be some difficulty, though Cyril,
Epiphanius, and Austin have accounted Shem the elder,
and Salian the annalist, and Petavius the chronologist,
contend for the same ; yet Cham is more plainly and con-
fessedly named the youngest in the text.

And this is more conformable unto the Pagan history
and G-entile account hereof, unto whom Noah was Satan,
whose symbol was a ship, as related imto the ark, and who
is said to have divided the world between his three sons.
Ham is conceived to be Jupiter, who was the youngest son,
worshipped by the name of Hauion, which was the Egyptian
and African name for Jupiter, who is said to have cut off
the genitals of his father, derived from the history of Ham,

* Gen. xi. ^ Gen. xxviii.

CHAP. TI.] THE TOWEE OF BABEL. 225

who beheld the nakedness of his, and by no hard mistake
might be confirmed from the text,* as Bochartusf hath well
observed.^

CHAPTER VI.

Tliat the Tower of Babel was erected against a second Deluge.

An opinion there is of some generality, that our fathers
after the flood attempted the tower of Babel, to secure
themselves against a second deluge. Which, however
affirmed by Josephus and others, hath seemed improbable
unto many who have discoursed hereon. For (beside that
they could not be ignorant of the promise of God never to
drown the world again,^ and had the rainbow before their
eyes to put them in mind thereof), it is improbable from
the nature of the deluge ; which, being not possibly
causable from natural showers above, or watery eruptions
below, but requiring a supernatural hand,^ and such as all

* Gen. ix. 22.

t Reading Veiaggod, etahseidit, for Veiegged, et nunciavit. — Bochartus
de Geographid ^acrd.

" And this is more conformable, etc.] This paragraph added in 2nd
edition.

' the promise of God, <i:c.'] This was an argument of beleef in the
family of Sem in the Old Testament, and to the familyes of Japhet now
in the new, that could not break his promise. But to the familyes of
Ham, whereof Nimrod was the cheefe, it was of noe force : with them
itt was niore easie to slight first and then to forget that promise : when
as they had now forgot God himselfe, as appeares by this bold
attempt, which therfore most deservedly ended in confusion. — Wr.

* requiring a supernatural hand.'\ A late writer, speaking of the
Mosaic account of the deluge, says, "Wliat a scene of terrific and
awful desolation does this narrative convey ! How puerile those com-
ments which exhibit animals and men escaping to the highest grounds
and hills as the flood advanced. The impossibility of such escape
may be immediately seen. Neither man nor beast under such circum-
stances could either advance or flee to any distance. Any animal,
found in the plain when the flood began, would thus be merged in
water seven or eight feet deep in a quarter of an hour ' And were he
to attempt advancing up the rising ground, a cataract of sheet water
several feet deep would be gushing all the way in his face, besdes
impending water-spouts from the 'flood-gates' of heaven, momentarily
bursting over him ; he would instantly become a prey to those ' " ighty
waters.' "

VOL. II. Q

22G THE TOWEE OE BABEL. [BOOK TIL

acknoivledge irresistible, must needs disparage tlieir know-
ledge aud judgment in so successless attempts.

Again, they must probably hear, and some might know,
that the waters of the flood ascended fifteen cubits above
the highest mountains. Now, if (as some define) the per-
pendicular altitude of the highest mountains be fotu" miles,
or (as others) but fifteen furlongs, it i^ not easily con-
ceived how such a structure could be effected, except we
allowed the description of Herodotus concerning the tower
of Belus ; whose lowest story was in height and breadth
one fui'long, and seven more built upon it ; abating that of
the Annian Berosus, the traditional relation of Jerome, and
fabulous account of the Jews. Probable it is, that what
they attempted was feasible, otherwise they had been amply
fooled in the fruitless success of their labours, nor needed
God to have hindered them, saying, " Nothing will be
restrained from them, which they begin to do."^

It was improbable from the place, that is, a plain in the
land of Shinar. And if l;he situation of Babylon were
such at first as it was in the days of Herodotus, it was
rather a seat of amenity and pleasure, than conducing
unto this intention : it being in a very great plain, and so
improper a place to provide against a general deluge by
towers and eminent structures, that they were fain to make
provisions against particular and annual inundations by
ditches and trenches, after the manner of Egypt. And
therefore Sir Walter Raleigh* accordingly objecteth : if the
nations which followed Nimrod still doubted the siu'prise
of a second flood, according to the opinions of the ancient
Hebrews, it soundeth HI to the ear of reason, that they
would have spent many years in that low and overflown
valley of Mesopotamia. And therefore in this situation,
they chose a place more likely to have secured them from
the world's destruction by fire, than another deluge of
water : and, as Pierius observeth, some have conceived that
this was their intention.

Lastly, the reason is delivered in the text. "Let us

* History of the World.

^ whose lowest story, <£-c.] Tliis passage was altered and enlarged in
the 2nd edition.

CHAP. VII.] OF THE MANDEAKES OF LEAH. 227

build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto
heaven, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered
abroad upon the whole earth ;" as we have already begun to
wander over a part. These were the open ends proposed
vmto the people ; but the secret design of Kimrod, was to
settle unto himself a place of dominion, and rule over his
brethren, as it after succeeded, according to the delivery
of the text, "The beginning of his kingdom was Babel."

CHAPTEE VII.

Of the Mand/raTces of Leah.

"We shall not omit the mandrakes^ of Leah, according to
the history of Genesis. " And Reuben went out in the
days of wheat-harvest, and found mandrakes in the field,
and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel
said unto Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's man-
drakes : and she saith unto her. Is it a small matter that
thou hast taken my husband, and wouldst thoii take my
son's mandrakes also ? And Rachel said. Therefore he
shall lie with thee this night for thy son's mandrakes."
From whence hath arisen a common conceit, that Rachel
requested these plants as a medicine of fecundation, or
whereby she might become fruitful. Which notwithstand-
ing is very questionable, and of incertain truth.

For, first, from the comparison of one text with another,
whether the mandrakes here mentioned be the same plant
which holds that name with us, there is some cause to
doubt. The word is used in another place of Scripture,*
when the church inviting her beloved into the fields, among
the delightful fruits of grapes and pomegranates, it is said,

* Cant. vii.

■• mandrakes,'] For a brief description of a plant bearing this name,
see vol. i.

Ross concludes a page of criticism on our author's reasons for reject-
ing the popular opinion of Rachel's motives for requesting the man-
drakes— by the following pithy expostulation : — "To be brief, I wouUl
know, whether it be a greater error in me to affirm that which la
denied by some, or in him to deny that which is affirmed by all ?"

«2

228 OF THE MANDRAKES OF LEAH. [bOOK VII.

"The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all
manner of pleasant fruits." Now instead of a smell of
delight, our mandrakes afford a papaverous and impleasant
odour, whether in the leaf or apple, as is discoverable in
their simplicity or mixture. The same is also dubious from
the different interpretations : for though the Septuagint
and Josephus do render it the apples of mandrakes in this
text, yet in the other of the Canticles, the Chaldee para-
phrase termeth it balsam. E. Solomon, as Drusius ob-
serveth, conceives it to be that plant the Arabians named
Jesemin. Oleaster, and Georgius ]N"enetus, the lily ; and
that the word dudaim may comprehend any plant that hath
a good smell, resembleth a woman's breast, and flou-
risheth in wheat-harvest. Tremellius interprets the same
for any amiable flowers of a pleasant and delightful odour.
But the Geneva translators have been more wary than any ;
for although they retain the word mandrake in the text,
they in eflect retract it in the margin ; wherein is set down
the word in the original is dudaim, which is a kind of fruit
or flower imknown.

Nor shall we wonder at the dissent of exposition, and
difiiculty of definition concerning this text, if we perpend
how variously the vegetables of Scripture are expounded,
and how hard it is in many places to make out the species
determined. Thus are we at variance concerning the plant
that covered Jonas : which though the Septuagint doth
render colocynthis, the Spanish calahaca, and ours accord-
ingly a gourd, yet the Vulgar translates it hedera or ivy ;
and as Grotius observeth, Jerome thus translated it, not as
the same plant, but best apprehended thereby. The Italian
of Diodati, and that of Tremellius have named it ricinus,
and so hath ours in the margin ; for palma Christi is the
same with ricinus. The Geneva translators have herein
been also circumspect, for they have retained the original
word kihaion, and ours hath also afiixed the same unto the
margin.

Nor are they indeed always the same plants which are
delivered under the same name, and appellations commonly
received amongst us. So when it is said of Solomon, that
he writ of plants, " from the cedar of Lebauus, imto the
hyssop that groweth upon the wall," that is from the

CHAP. VII.] OF THE MANDRAKES OF LEAH. 229

greatest unto the smallest, it cannot be well conceived our
common hyssop : for neither is that the least of vegetables,
nor observed to grow upon walls ; but rather as Lemnius
well conceiveth, some kind of the capillaries, which are very
small plants, and only grow upon walls and stony places.
Nor are the four species in the holy ointment, cinnamon,
myrrh, calamus, ancl cassia, nor the other in the holy per-
fume, frankincense, siacte^ onycha, and galbanum, so agree-
ably expounded unto those in use with us, as not to leave
considerable doubts behind them. Nor must that perhaps
be taken for a simple unguent, which Matthew only
termeth a precious ointment ; but rather a composition, as
Mark and John imply by pistick nard, that is faithfully
dispensed, and may be that famous composition described
by Dioscorides, made of oil of ben, malahathrum, juncus
odoratus, costus, amomum, myrrh, balsam, and nard,* which
Galen affirmeth to have been in use with the delicate dames
of Eome, and that the best thereof was made at Laodicea,
from whence by merchants it was conveyed unto other
parts. But how to make out that translation concerning
the tithe of mint, anise and cummin, we are still to seek ;
for we find not a word in the text that can properly be
rendered anise, the Greek being ai'/jSoi', which the Latins
call anethum, and is properly Englished dill. Lastly, what
meteor that was, that fed the Israelites so many years,
they must rise again to inform us. Nor do they make it
out,t who will have it the same with our manna ; nor will
any one kind thereof, or hardly all kinds we read of, be
able to answer the qualities thereof, delivered in the Scrip-
ture ; that is, to fall upon the groimd, to breed worms, to
melt with the sun, to taste like fresh oil, to be ground in
mills, to be like coriander seed, and of the colour of
bdellium.!^

Again, it is not deducible from the text or concurrent
sentence of comments, that Rachel had any such intention,
and most do rest in the determination of Austin, that she
Jesired them for rarity, pulchritude, or suavity. Nor is it

* V. Matihioli Epist.

t V. Doctissimum Chrysostom. Magnenum de Manna.

Lastly, <fcc.] This passage was added :ii the 2nd edition.

230 OF THE MAKDEAKES OF LEAH. [bOOK TII.

probable she would have resigned her bed unto Leah, when
at the same time she had obtained a medicine to fructify
herself. And therefore Drucius, who hath expressly and
favourably treated hereof, is so far from conceding this
intention, that he plainly concludeth, Hoc quo modo ill is
in mentem venerit, conjicere nequeo ; — " how this conceit fell
into men's minds, it cannot fall into mine ;" for the Scrip-
ture delivereth it not, nor can it be clearly deduced from
-the text.

Thirdly, if Eachel had any such intention, yet had they
no such effect, for she conceived not many years after, of
Joseph ; whereas in the mean time Leah had three children,
Issachar, Zebulou, and Dinah.

Lastly, although at that time they failed of this effect,
yet is it mainly questionable whether they had any such
virtue, either in the opinions of those times, or in their
proper nature. That the opinion was popular in the laud
of Canaan, it is improbable ; and had Leah understood thus
much, she would not surely have parted with fruits of such
a faculty ; especially unto Eachel, who was no friend unto
lier. As for its proper nature, the ancients have generally
esteemed it narcotick or stupefactive, and it is to be found
in the list of poisons, set down by Dioscorides, Galen,
^tius, jEgineta, and several antidotes delivered by them
against it. It was, I confess, from good antiquity, and in
the days of Theophrastus, accounted a philter or plant that
conciliates affection ; and so delivered by Dioscorides.
And this intent might seem most probable, had they not
been the wives of holy Jacob ; had Eachel presented them
unto him, and not requested them for herself.

Now what Dioscorides affirmeth in favour of this effect,
that the grains of the apples of mandrakes mundify the
matrix, and applied with sulphur stop the fluxes of women,
he overthrows again by qualities destructive unto concep-
tion ; affirming also that the juice thereof piu-geth upward
like hellebore ; and applied in pessaries^ provokes the
menstruous flows, and procures abortion. Petrus His-
panus, or Pope Jolm the Twentieth, speaks more directly in
his Thesaurus Pauperum : wherein among the receipts of
fecundation, he experimentally commendeth the wine of
* jpessaries.] Medicines made into an oblong shape.

CHAP. VII.] OF THE MANDEAKES OE LEAH. 231

mandrakes given with triphera magna. But the soul of the
medicine may lie in tripliera magna, an excellent com-
position, and for this effect commended by Nicolaus.
And whereas Levinus Lemnius, that eminent physician,
doth also concede this effect, it is from manifest causes
and qualities elemental occasionally producing the same.
Tor he imputeth the same unto the coldness of that simple,
and is of opinion that in hot climates, and where the
uterine parts exceed in heat, by the coldness hereof they
may be reduced into a conceptive constitution, and crasis
accommodable unto generation ; whereby indeed we will not
deny the due and frequent use may proceed unto some
effect ; from whence, notwithstanding, we cannot infer a
fertilitating condition or property of feciuidatiou. For in
this way all vegetables do make fruitful according unto the
complexion of the matrix ; if that excel in heat, plants
exceeding in cold do rectify it ; if it be cold, simples that
are hot reduce it ; if dry, moist ; if moist, dry correct it ;
in which division all plants are comprehended. But to
distinguish thus much is a point of art, and beyond the
method of Rachel's or feminine physic. Again, whereas it
may be thought that mandrakes may fecundate, since poppy
hath obtained the epithet of fruitful, and that fertility was
hieroglyphically described by Venus with an head of poppy
in her hand ; the reason hereof was the multitude of seed
within itself, and no such multiplying in human generation.
And lastly, whereas they may seem to have this quality
(since opium itself is conceived to extimulate unto venery,
and for that intent is sometimes used by Turks, Per-
sians, and most oriental nations), although Winclerus doth
seem to favour the conceit, yet Amatus Lusitanus, and
Bodericus a Castro, are against it ; Garcias ab Hortc
refutes it from experiment ; and they speak probably whc
affirm the intent and effect of eating opium is not so much
to invigorate themselves in coition, as to prolong the act^
and spin out the motions of carnality.

232 THE THEEE KINGS OF COLLEIN. [BOOK "VTI.

CHAPTEE VIII.

Of the Three Kings of Collein.''

A COMMON conceit there is of the three kings of Collein,
conceived to be the wise men that travelled unto our Saviour
by the direction of the star. Wherein (omitting the large
discourses of Baronius, Pineda, and Montacutius), that they
might be kings, beside the ancient tradition and authority of
many fathers, the Scripture implieth ; " The Grentiles shall
come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
The kings of Tharsis and the Isles, the kings of Arabia and
Saba shall offer gifts." Which places most Christians and
many rabbins interpret of the Messiah. Not that they are
to be conceived potent monarchs, or mighty kings, but
toparchs, kings of cities or narrow territories ; such as were
tlie kings of Sodom and Gomorrha, the kings of Jericho and
Ai, the one aud thirty which Joshua subdued, and such as
some conceive the friends of Job to have been.

But although we grant they were kings, yet can we not
be assured they were three. For the Scriptiu-e maketh no
mention of any number ; and the number of their presents,
gold, myrrh, and frankincense, concludeth not the number
of their persons ; for these were the commodities of their
country, and such as probably the queen of Sheba in one
person had brought before uxito Solomon. So did not the
sons of Jacob divide the present unto Joseph, but are con-
ceived to carry one for them all, according to the expression
of their father ; " Take of the best fruits of the land in your
vessels, and carry down the man a present." And therefore
their number being uncertain, what credit is to be given
unto their names. Gasper, Melchior, Balthazar,^ what to the

' Three lings of Collein.] Cologne on the Ehine.
* Gasj^er, <hc.] According to the following distich in Festa Anglo-
Romana, p. 7 :

Tres reges regi regum tria dona ferebant ;
Myrrham homini, uncto aurum, thura dedere Deo.

Selden says, that " our chusing kings and queens, on twelfth night,
has reference to the three kings." — Table Talk, p. 20. See also Universal
Magazine, 1774 ; Sir H. Piers'a Westmeath, 1682, in Vallancey's Col-

CUAP. YIII.] TUB THREE KINGS OF COLLEIN. 233

charm thereof against the foiling sickness, or what unto their
habits, complexions, and corporal accidents, we must rely on
their uncertain story, and received portraits of Collein.

Lastly, although we grant them kings, and three in num-
ber, yet could we not conceive that they were kings of Col-
lein. For although Collein were the chief city of the Ubii,
then called Ubiopolis, and afterwards x^grippina, yet wdl no
history inform us there were three kings thereof. Beside,
these being rulers in their countries, and returning home,
would have probably converted their subjects ; but according
unto Munster, their conversion was not wrought until seventy
years after, by Maternus, a disciple of Peter. And lastly, it
is said that the wise men came from the east ; but Collein is
seated westward from Jerusalem ; for Collein hath of longi-
tude thirty-four degrees, but Jerusalem seventy-two.

The ground of all was this. These wise men or kinga
were probably of Arabia, and descended from Abraham by
Keturah, who apprehending the mystery of this star, either
by the Spirit of Grod, the prophecy of Balaam, the prophecy
which Suetonius mentions, received and constantly believed
through all the east, that out of Jewry one should come that
should rule the whole world, or the divulged expectation of
the Jews from the expiring prediction of Daniel, were by
the same conducted unto Judea, returned into their country,
and were after baptized by Thomas. From whence about
three hundred years after, by Helena, the empress, their
bodies were translated to Constantinople. From thence by
Eustatius vmto Milan, and at last by Henatus, the bishop,
unto Collein, where they are believed at present to remain,
their monuments shown unto strangers, and having lost their
Arabian titles, are crowned kings of Collein.

lectan. i. No. 1. p. 124. — A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, however,
vol. xxxiv. p. 599, refers the twelfth night cake to the Roman custom
of casting dice to decide who should be rex convivii.

It appears from Gentleman's May azine, that on twelfth day, 1736, the
king and the prince, at the chapel-royal, St. James's, made their offer-
mgs of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These continue to be annually
made — by proxy. — Hone's Every-day Booh, vol. i. p. 59.

234 OF THE FOOD OF JOHN BAPTIST. [bOOK VTI.

CHAPTEE IX.

Of the food of John Baptist, Locusts and Wild Honey,

CoNCEE>'iifG the food of John Baptist in the wilderness,
locusts and wild honey, less popular opiniatrity should arise,
we will deliver the chief opinions. The first conceived the
locusts here mentioned to be that fruit which the Greeks
name wpartor, mentioned by Luke in the diet of the prodigal
son, the Latins siliqua, and some panis sancti Johannis, in-
cluded in a broad pod, and indeed a taste almost as pleasant
as honey. But this opinion doth not so truly impugn that
of the locusts, and might rather call unto controversy the
meaning of wild honey.

The second afnrmeth that they were the tops or tender
crops of trees ; for so locusta also signifieth. AVhich conceit
is plausible in Latin, but will not hold in G-reek, wherein
the word is uKolai ; except for uKplhc, we read atcpu'cpva, oi
aKpijxoytQ, which signify the extremities of trees, of which
belief have divers been ; more confidently Isidore Pelusiota,
who in his epistles plainly aflirmeth they think unlearnedly
who are of another belief. And this so wrought upon Baro-
nius, that he concludeth in neutrality ; Hcec cum scribat
Isidorus, definiendum nobis non est, et tot urn relinquimus
lectoris arhitrio ; nam constat Grcecam dictionem aicpiceg, et
locust am, insecti genus, et arhorum summitates significare.
Sed fallitur, saith Montacutius, nam constat contrarium,
aKpica apud nullum autJwrem classicum uKpucpva significare.
But above all Paracelsus with most animosity promoteth
this opinion, and in his book De Melle spareth not his friend
Erasmus. Hoc a nonnullis ita explicatur ut dicant locustas
aut cicadas Johanni pro cibo fuisse ; sed hi stultitiam dissi-
mulare non possunt, veluti Jeronymus, Erasmus, et alii pro-
phetcB neoterici in Latinitate immortui.

A third affirmeth that they were properly locusts, that is,
a sheath-winged and six-footed insect, such as is our grass-
hopper. And this opinion seems more probable than the
other.^ For beside the authority of Origen, Jerome, Chry-

^ and this opinion, <fcc.] Ross contends against the Dr. for the greater
probability that John's diet wai.< vegetable — on the ground that, as he

:HAP. X.] ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 235

sostom, Hilary, and Ambrose to confirm it, this is the proper
signification of the word, thus used in Scripture by the Sep-
tuagint ; Greek vocabularies thus expound it ; Suidas on
the word aKjUQ observes it to be that animal whereupon the
Baptist fed in the desert : in this sense the word is used
by Aristotle, Dioscorides, Galen, and several human authors.
And lastly, there is no absurdity in this interpretation, nor
any solid reason why we should decline it, it being a food
permitted unto the Jews, whereof four kinds are reckoned up
among clean meats. Besides, not only the Jews, but many
other nations, long before and since, have made an usual
food thereof. That the Ethiopians, Mauritanians, and
Arabians did commonly eat them, is testified by Diodorus,
Strabo, Solinus, ^lian, and Pliny ; that they still feed on
them is confirmed by Leo, Cadamustus, and others John
therefore, as our Saviour saith, " came neither eating nor
drinking," that is, far from the diet of Jerusalem and other
riotous places, but fared coarsely and poorly, according unto
the apparel he wore, that is, of camel's hair ; the place of
his abode — the wilderuess ; and the doctrine he preached —
humiliation and repentance.

CHAPTER X.

That John the Evangelist should not die.

The conceit of the long living, or rather not dying, of
John the Evangelist, although it seem inconsiderable, and
not much weightier than that of Joseph, the wandering Jew,
yet being deduced from Scripture, and abetted by authors of
all times, it shall not escape our enquiry. It is drawn from
the speech of our Saviour unto Peter after the prediction of
his martyrdom : " Peter saith unto Jesus, Lord, what shall
this man do ? Jesus saith unto him. If I will that he tarry

Ethiopians, who were accustomed to use locusts for food, almost all fell
a prey to jihthinasis, it is scarcely to be believed that John would have
adopted a diet likely to entail so loathsome a disease. — Arcana, p. 95.

There is one species of the acacia tribe called the honey locust, bearing
a large and very sweet pod, which is very commonly boiled and eaten
in America ; and this is supposed to have been the food of the Baptist.

236 ST, JOHN TUE EVAKGELIST. [bOOK Vll.

xintil I come, what is that to thee ? Follow thou me. Then
went this saying abroad among the brethren, that this dis-
ciple should not die."*

Xow the belief hereof hath been received either grossly
and in the general, that is, not distinguishing the manner or
particular way of this continuation, in which sense probably
the grosser and undiscerning party received it ; or more
distinctly, apprehending the manner of his immortality, that
is, that John should never properly die, but be translated
into Paradise, there to remain with Enoch and Elias until
about the coming of Christ, and should be slain with them
under Antichrist, according to that of the Apocalypse ; " I
will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall pro-
phesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed
in sackcloth ; and when they shall have finished their testi-
mony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit
shall make war against them, and overcome them and kill
them." Hereof, as Baronius observeth, within three hun-
dred years after Clirist, Hippolytus the martyr was the first
assertor, but hath been maintained by Metaphrastes, by
Freculphus, but especially by Georgius Trapezuntius, who
hath expressly treated upon this text, and although he lived
but in the last century, did still affirm that John was not yet
dead.

The same is also hinted by the learned Italian poet Dante,
who in his poetical survey of Paradise, meeting with the soul
of St. John, and desiring to see his body, received answer
from him, that his body was in earth, and there should
remain with other bodies until the number of the blessed
were accomplished.^

In teri-a h teiTa il mio corpo, et saragli
Tanto con gli altri, che 1' numero nostro
Con r eterno proposito s' agguagli.

As for the gross opinion that he should not die, it is suffi-
ciently refuted by that which first occasioned it, that is, the
Scripture itself, and no further ofi" than the very subsequent
verse : " Tet Jesus said not unto him, he should not die, but
* John xxi.

' T^e same h also hinted, <L'C.] This paragraph, together with tha
Italian quotation which follows it, was first added in the 6th edition.

CHAP. X.] ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 237

if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? "
And this was written by John himself, whom the opinion
concerned, and (as is conceived) many years after, when
Peter had suffered and fulfilled the prophecy of Christ.

For the particular conceit, the foundation is weak, nor can
it be made out from the text alleged in the Apocalypse ; for
beside that therein two persons only are named, no mention
is made of John, a third actor in this tragedy. The same is
also overthrown by history, which recordeth not only the
death of John, but assigneth the place of his burial, that is,
Ephesus, a city in Asia Minor ; whither, after he had been
banished into Patmos by Domitian, he returned in the reign
of Nerva, there deceased, and was buried in the days of
Trajan. And this is testified by Jerome, by Tertullian, by
Chrysostom, andEusebius* (in whose days his sepulchre was
to be seen), and by a more ancient testimony alleged also
by him, that is, of Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, not many
successions after John ; whose words are these, in an epistle
unto Victor, bishop of Rome : Johannes ille qui suprapectus
Domini recumhehat, doctor op)timii,s, apud Ephesum dormivit.
Many of the like nature are noted by Baronius, Jan-
senius, Estius, Lipellous, and others.

Now the main and primitive ground of this error was a
gross mistake in the words of Christ, and a false apprehen-
sion of his meaning ; understanding that positively which
was but conditionally expressed, or receiving that affirma-
tively which was but concessively delivered. Eor the words
of our Saviour run in a doubtful strain, rather reprehending
than satisfying the curiosity of Peter : as though he should
have said, " thou hast thy own doom, why enquirest thou
after thy brother's ? — what relief unto thy affliction will be
the society of another's ? — why pryest thou into the secrets
of Grod's will ?— if he stay until I come, what concerneth it
thee, who shalt be sure to sufter before that time?" And
such an answer probably he returned, because he foreknew
John should not sufter a violent death, but go unto his
grave in peace. Which had Peter assuredly known, it
might have cast some water on his flames, and smothered
those fires which kindled after unto the honour of hia
Master.

* De Scri]^tor. Ecclesiast. De am ma.

238 ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. [bOOK VII.

Now why among all tlie rest Jolm only escaped the death
of a martyr, the reason is given : because all others fled
away or withdrew themselves at his death, and he alone of
the twelve beheld his passion on the cross. "Wherein not-
withstanding, the afiliction that he suffered could not
amount unto less than martyrdom : for if the naked relation,
at least the intentive consideration of that passion, be able
still, and at this disadvantage of time, to rend the hearts of
pious contemplators, surely the near and sensible vision
thereof must needs occasion agonies beyond the compre-
hension of flesh ; and the trajections of such an object more
sharply pierce the martyred soid of John, than afterwards
did the nails the crucified body of Peter.

Again, they were mistaken in the emphatical appre-
hension, placing the consideration upon the words, " If 1
will," whereas it properly lay in these, "until I come."
Which had they apprehended, as some have since, that is,
not for his ultimate and last return, but his coming in judg-
ment and destruction upon the Jews ; or such a coming, as
it might be said, that generation should not pass before it
was fulfilled ; they needed not, much less need we, sup-
pose such diuturnity. For after the death of Peter, John
lived to behold the same fulfilled by Vespasian : nor had he
then his nunc dimittis, or went out like unto Simeon ; but
old in accomplished obscurities, and having seen the expire
of Daniel's prediction, as some conceive, he accomplished his
revelation.

But besides this original and primary foundation, divers
others have made impressions according unto different ages
and persons by whom they were received. Por some esta-
blished the conceit in the disciples and brethren which w^ere
contemporary unto him, or lived about the same time with
him. And this was, first, the extraordinary affection our
Saviour bare unto this disciple, who hath the honour to be
called the disciple whom Jesus loved : now from hence they
might be apt to belive their Master would dispense with his
death, or suffer him to live to see him return in glory, who
was the only apostle that beheld him to die in dishonour.
Another was the belief and opinion of those times, that
Christ would suddenly come ; for they held not generally
the same opinion with their successors, or as descending

CHA.P. X.] ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 239

ages after so many centuries, but conceived his commg
would not be long after his passion, according unto several
expressions of our Saviour grossly understood, and as we
find the same opinion not long after reprehended by St.
Paul : * and thus, conceiving his coming would not be long,
they might be induced to believe his favourite should live
unto it. Lastly, the long life of John might much advan-
tage this opinion ; for he survived the other twelve — he was
aged twenty-two years when he was called by Christ, and
twenty-five (that is the age of priesthood) at his death, and
lived ninety-three years, that is sixty-eight after his Saviour,
and died not before the second year of Trajan : now, having
outlived all his fellows, the world was confirmed he might
still live, and even unto the coming of his Master.

The grounds which promoted it in succeeding ages, were
especially two. The first his escape of martyrdom ; for
whereas all the rest suffered some kind of forcible death, we
have no history that he suffered any ; and men might think
he was not capable thereof; for as history informeth, by the
command of Domitian he was cast into a caldron of burning
oil, and came out again unsinged. Now future ages appre-
hending he suffered no violent death, and finding also the
means that tended thereto could take no place, they might
be confirmed in their opinion, that death had no power over
him ; that he might live always, who could not be destroyed
by fire, and was able to resist the fury of that element which
nothing shall resist. The second was a corruption, crept
into the Latin text, for si reading sic eum manere volo ;
whereby the answer of our Saviour becometh positive, or
that he will have it so ; which way of reading was much
received in former ages, and is still retained in the Vulgar
translation : but in the Greek and original the word is iav,
signifying si or if, which is very different from oiJ-w, and
cannot be translated for it : and answerable hereunto is the
translation of Junius, and that also annexed unto the Greek
by the authority of Sixtus Quintus.

The third confirmed it in ages farther descending, and
proved a powerful argument unto all others following — be-
cause ia Ills tomb at Ephesus there was no corpse or relick

* 2 Tliess. ii.

240 ST. JOHN THE ETAITGELIST. [bOOK TXL

thereof to be found ; whereupon arose divers doubts, and
many suspicious conceptions ; some believing be was not
buried, some, that he was buried but risen again, others, that
he descended alive into his tomb, and from thence departed
after. But all these proceeded upon unveritable grounds,
as Baronius hath observed ; who allegeth a letter of Celestine,
bishop of Rome, unto the council of Ephesus, wherein he
declareth the relicks of John were highly honoured by that
city ; and a passage also of Chrysostom in the homilies of the
apostles, " That John being dead, did cures in Ephesus, as
though he were still alive." And so I observe that Estius
discussing this point, concludeth hereupon, quod cooyus ejics
nunquam reperiatur, hoc non dicerent si veterum scripta
diligenter perlustrassent.

Now that the first ages after Christ, those succeeding, or
any other, should proceed into opinions so far divided from
reason, as to think of immortality after the fall of Adam, or
conceit a man in these later times should outlive our fathers
in the first, — although it seem very strange, yet is it not
incredible. For the credulity of men hath been deluded into
the like conceits ; and, as Irenaeus and Tertullian mention,
one Menander, a Samaritan, obtained belief in this very point,
whose doctriae it was, that death should have no power on
his disciples, and such as received his baptism should receive
immortality therewith. 'Twas surely an apprehension very
strange ; nor usually falling either from the absurdities of
melancholy or vanities of ambition. Some indeed have been
so affectedly vain as to counterfeit immortality, and have
stolen their death, in a hope to be esteemed immortal ; and
others have conceived themselves dead: but surely few or
none have fallen upon so bold an error, as not to think that
they could die at all. The reason of those mighty ones,
whose ambition could suffer them to be called gods, would
never be flattered into immortality ; but the proudest thereof
have by the daily dictates of corruption convinced the im-
propriety of that appellation. And surely, although delusion
may run high, and possible it is that for a while a man may
forget his nature, yet cannot this be durable. For the incon-
cealable imperfections of ourselves, or their dady examples in
others, will hourly prompt us our corruption, ana loudly teU
us we are the sons of earth.

CHAP. XI. 1 OF DATID. OF LOt's WIFE. 241

CHAPTEE XI.

Of some othera more briefly.

Matty others there are which we resign unto divinity,
and perhaps deserve not controversy. Whether David were
punished only for pride of heart for numbering the people, as
most do hold, or whether, as Josephus and many maintain, he
suffered also for not performing the commandment of God
concerning capitation, that when the people were numbered,
for every head they should pay unto God a sliekel,* — we
shall not here contend. Surely if it were not the occasion
of this plague, we must acknowledge the omission thereof
was threatened with that punishment, according to the words
of the law : " When thou takest the sum of the children
of Israel, then shall they give every man a ransom for his
soul unto the Lord, that there be no plague amongst them." f
Now how deeply hereby God was defrauded in the time of
David, and opulent state of Israel, will easily appear by the
sums of former lustrations. For in the first, the silver of
them that were numbered was an hundred talents, and a
thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels ;
a bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel
of the sanctuary ; for every one from twenty years old and
upwards, for six hundred thousand, and three thousand and
five hundred and fifty men. Answerable whereto we read
in Josephus, Vespasian ordered that every man of the Jews
should bring into the Capitol two drachms ; which amounts
unto iifteen pence, or a quarter of an ounce of silver with us ;
and is equivalent unto a bekah, or half a shekel of the sanc-
tuary. For an Attick drachm is sevenpence halfpenny, or a
quarter of a shekel, and a didracTimum, or double drachm, is
the word used for tribute money, or half a shekel ; and a stater,
the money found in the fish's mouth, was two didrachmiims,
or a whole shekel, and tribute sufficient for our Saviour and
for Peter.

We wiU not question the metamorphosis of Lot's wife, or
whether she were transformed into a real statue of salt ;

* Exod. XXX. f Exod. xxxviii.

TOL. II. B

242 THAT JTJDAS HANGED HIMSELF. [bOOK VII.

thougli some conceive that expression metapliorical,^ and no
more thereby than a lasting and durable column, according to
the nature of salt, which admitteth no corruption;^ in which
sense the covenant of God is termed a covenant of salt ; and
it is also said, God gave the kingdom vmto David for ever,
or by a covenant of salt.

That Absalom was hanged by the hair of the head, and
uot caught up by the neck, as Josephus conceiveth, and the
common argument against long hair affirmeth, we are uot
ready to deny. Although I confess a great and learned
party there are of another opinion ; although if he had his
morion or helmet on, I could not well conceive it ; although
the translation of Jerome or Tremellius do not prove it, and
our own seems rather to overthrow it.

That Judas hanged himself — much more that he perished
thereby — we shall not raise a doubt. Although Jansenius,
discotu-sing the point, produceth the testimony of Theo-

^ We will not question, <f.-c.] Dr. Adam Clarke has given a long note
on this question, to which the reader is referred. He enumerates in
addition to Browne's two hypotheses, a third : — viz. that, by continuing
in the plain, she might have been struck dead with lightning, and
enveloped and invested in the bituminous and sulphurous matter which
descended. But Dr. C. evidently inclines to accept the metaphorical
interpretation. A number of absurd and contradictory stories (he
remarks) have been told, of the discovery of Lot's wife still remaining
unchanged — and indeed uiichangeable, — her form having still resident
in it a continual miraculous energy, reproductive of any part which is
broken off : so that though multitudes of visitors have brought away
each a morsel, yet does the next find the figure — complete ! The author
of the poem De Sodoma, at the end of TertuUian's works, and with him,
Irenaeus, asserts the figure to posse.ss certain indications of a remaining
portion of animal life, and the latter father in the height of his absurdity,
makes her an emblem of the tnie church, which, though she suflfers
much, and often loses whole members, yet preserves the pillar of salt,
that is, the foundation of the true faith// Josephus asserts that he
himself saw the pillar. S. Clement also says that Lot's wife was
remaining, even at that time, as a pillar of salt. Recent and more
respectable travellers however have sought for her in vain, and it is
now very generally admitted, either that the statue does not exist — or
that some of the blocks of rock salt met with in the vicinity of the Dead
>Sea — are the only remains of it.

^ which, <L-c.] Itt admitteth noe corruption in other things, but
itselfe suffers liquation, and corruption too, that is, looses its savour,
as appear.s by that remarkable speech of our Saviour, Marc. ix.
60. — Wr.

CUA.P. XII.] OF THE CESSATION OF OEACLES. 243

phylact and Euthymius, that he died not by the gallows but
under a cart-wheel ; and Baronius also delivereth, this was
the opinion of the Greeks, and derived as high as Papias,
one of the disciples of John. Although, also, how hardly the
expression of Matthew is reconcileable unto that of Peter —
and that he plainly hanged himself, with that, that falling
headlong he burst asunder in the midst — with many other
the learned Grotius plainly doth acknowledge. And lastly,
although, as he also urgeth, the word ImiiylaTo in Matthew
doth not only signify suspension or pendulous illaqueation, as
the common picture describeth it, but also sufibcation, stran-
gulation or interception of breath, which may arise from grief,
despair, and deep dejection of spirit, in which sense it is used
in the history of Tobit concerning Sara, iXvnifir} acpo^pa wrrre
d7rayi'a(70o«, — Ita fristata est ut strangulatione premeretur,
saith Jiinius ; and so might it happen from the horror of
mind unto Judas.* So do many of the Hebrews affirm,
that Achitophel was also strangled, that is, not from the
rope, but passion. For the Hebrew and Arabic word in the
text not only signifies suspension, but indignation, as Grotius
hath also observed.

Many more there are of indifferent truths, whose dubious
expositions worthy divines and preachers do often draw
into wholesome and sober uses, whereof we shall not speak.
With industry we decline such paradoxes, and peaceably
submit unto their received acceptions.

CHAPTER XII.

Of the Cessation of Oracles.

That oracles ceased or grew mute at the coming of
Christ,^ is best understood in a qualified sense, and not
without all latitude, as though precisely there were none
after, nor any decay before. For (what we must confess

* Strangulat indusus dolor.

* That oracles ceased, d-c] Browne betrays, throughout, his full belief
in the supernatural ar d Satanic character of oracles.

r2

2'44 OF THE CESSATION OF GEACLES. [BOOK Vll.

unto relations of antiquity), some pre-decay is observable
from that of Cicero, urged by Baronius ; Gur isto modo jam
oracula Delphis non eduntur, non modo cetate, sed jam diu, ut
nihil possit esse contemptius. Tliat during his life they were
not altogether dumb, is dedvicible from Suetonius in the life
of Tiberius, who attempting to subvert the oracles adjoining
unto Home, was deterred by the lots or chances which were
delivered at Praeneste. After his death we meet with many;
Suetonius reports, that the oracle of Antium forewarned
Caligula to beware of Cassius, who was one that conspired
his death. Plutarch enquiring why the oracles of G-reece
ceased, excepteth that of Lebadia ; and in the same place
Demetrius aiiirmeth the oracles of Mopsus and Amphilochus
were much frequented in his days. In brief, histories are
frequent in examples, and there want not some even to the
reign of Julian.

What therefore may consist with history ; — by cessation
of oracles, with Montacutius, we may understand their
intercision, not abscission or consummate desolation ; their
rare delivery, not total dereliction : and yet in regard of
divers oracles, we may speak strictly, and say there was a
proper cessation. Thus may we reconcile the accounts of
times, and allow those few and broken divinations, whereof
we read in story and undeniable authors. For that they
received this blow from Christ, and no other causes alleged
by the heathens, from oraculous confession they cannot
deny ; whereof upon record there are some very remarkable.
The first that oracle of Delphos dehvered unto Augustus.

Me puer Hebrseus Divos Deus ipse gubernans,
Cedere sede jubet, tristemque redire sub orcum ;
Aris ergo dehiiic tacitus discedito nostris.

An Hebrew child, a God all gods excelling,
To Hell again commands me from this dwelling ;
Our altars leave in silence, and no more
A resolution e'er from hence implore.

A second recorded by Plutarch, of a voice that was heard
to cry unto mariners at the sea, Great Pan is dead ; which
is a relation very remarkable, and may be read in his defect
of oracles. A third reported by Eusebius in the Hfe of his
magnified Constantine, that about that time Apollo mourned,

CHAP. XII.] OF THE CESSAIION OF OKACLES. 245

declaring his oracles were false, and that the righteous upon
earth did hinder him from speaking truth. And a fourth
related by Theodoret, and delivered by Apollo Daphneus
unto Julian, upon his Persian expedition, that he should
remove the bodies about him before he could return an
answer, and not long after his temple was burnt with
lightning.

All which were evident and convincing acknowledgments
of that power which shut his lips, and restrained that delu-
sion which had reigned so many centuries. But as his malice
is vigilant, and the sins of men do still continue a toleration
of his mischiefs, he resteth not, nor will he ever cease to
circumvent the sous of the first deceived. And therefore,
expelled from oracles and solemn temples of delusion, he
runs into corners, exercising minor trumperies, and acting
his deceits in witches, magicians, diviners, and such inferior
seducers. And yet (what is deplorable) while we apply
ourselves thereto, and, affirming that God hath left off to
speak by his prophets, expect in doubtful matters a resolu-
tion from such spirits ; while we say the devil is mute, yet
confess that these can speak ; while we deny the substance,
yet practise the effect, and in the denied solemnity maintain
the equivalent efficacy ; — in vain we cry that oracles are
down ; Apollo's altar stdl doth smoke ; nor is the fire of
Delphos out unto this day.

Impertinent it is unto our intention to speak in general
of oracles, and many have well performed it. The plainest
of others was that of Apollo Delphicus, recorded by Hero-
dotus, and delivered unto Croesus ; who as a trial of their
omniscience sent unto distant oracles : and so contrived
with the messengers, that though in several places, yet at
the same time they should demand what Crcesus was then a
doing. Among aU others the oracle of Delphos only hit it,
returning answer, he was boiling a lamb with a tortoise, in
a brazen vessel, with a cover of the same metal. The style
is haughty in Greek, though somewhat lower in Latin,

u^Equoria est spatium et numerus mihi notus arenae,
Mutum percipio, fantis nihil audio vocem.
Venit ad hos sensus nidor testudinis acris,
Qute semel agnina coquitur cum carne lebete,
Aere inira atrato, et stratum cui desuper aes esfe,

246 THE DEATH OF AEISTOTLE. [bOOK TLT.

I know the space of sea, the number of the sand,
I hear the silent, mute I understand.
A tender lamb joined with tortoise flesh.
Thy master, king of Lydia, now doth dress.
The scent thereof doth in my nostrils hover,
From brazen pot closed with brazen cover.

Hereby indeed he acquired mucli wealth and more honour,
and was "reputed by Crcesus as a deity : and yet not long
after, by a vulgar fallacy he deceived his favourite and
greatest friend of oracles, into an irreparable overthrow by
Cyrus. And surely the same success are likely all to have,
that rely or depend upon him. 'Twas the first play he
practised on mortality ; and as time hath rendered him more
perfect iu the art, so hath the inveterateness of his malice
more ready in the execution. 'Tis therefore the sovereign
degree of folly, and a crime not only against God, but also
our own reasons, to expect a favour from the devil, whose
mercies are more cruel than those of Polyphemus ; for he
devours his favourites first, and the nearer a man approacheth,
the sooner he is scorched by Moloch. In brief, his favours
are deceitful and double-headed, he doth apparent good, for
real and convincing evil after it ; and exalteth us up to the
top of the temple, but to tumble us down from it.

CHAPTER XIII.

Of the Death of Aristotle,

That Aristotle drowned himself in Euripus, as despainng
to resolve the cause of its reciprocation, or ebb and flow
seven times a day, with this determination. Si quidem ego
non capio te, tit capies me, was the assertion of Procopius,
Nazianzeu, Justin Martyr, and is generally believed among
us. Wherein because we perceive men have but an imper-
fect knowledge, some conceiving Eimpus to be a river, others
not knowing where or in what part to place it, we first adver-
tise, it generally signifieth any strait, fret, or channel of the sea,
running between two shores, as Julius Pollux hath defined
it ; as we read of Euripus Hellespontiacus, PjTrhseus, and
this whereof we treat, JEuripus Euhoiciis, or Chalcidicus, that

CHA.P. XIII.] THE DEATH OF ARISTOTLE. 247

is, a narrow passage of sea dividing Attica and the island of
Euboea, now called Qolfo cU Negroponte, from the name of the
island and chief city thereof, famous in the wars of Antiochus,
and taken from the Venetians by Mahomet the Great.

Now that in this Euripe or fret of Negroponte, and upon
the occasion mentioned, Aristotle drowned himself, as many
affirm, and almost all believe, we have some room to doubt.
Tor without any mention of this, we find two ways delivered
of his death by Diogenes Laertius, who expressly treateth
thereof; the one from Eumolus and Phavorinus, that, being
accused of impiety for composing an hymn unto Hermias
(upon whose concubine he begat his son Nicomachus), he
withdrew into Chalcis, where drinking poison he died ; the
hymn is extant in Laertius, and the fifteenth book of Athe-
naeus. Another by ApoUodorus,^ that he died at Chalcis of
a natiu-al death and languishment of stomach, in his sixty-
third, or great climacterical year ; and answerable hereto is
the account of Suidas and Censorinus. And if that were
cleai'ly made out, which Eabbi Ben Joseph affinneth he
found in an Egyptian book of Abraham Sapiens Perizol, that
Aristotle acknowledged all that was written in the law of
Moses, and became at last a proselyte, it would also make
improbable this received way of his death.*''

Again, beside the negative of authority, it is also deniable
by reason ; nor will it be easy to obtrude such desperate
attempts upon Aristotle, from unsatisfaction of reason, who
so often acknowledged the imbecility thereof. Who in
matters of difficulty, and such which were not without ab-
strusities, conceived it sufficient to deliver conjecturalities.
And surely he that could sometimes sit down with high im-
probabilities, that could content himself, and think to satisfy
others, that the variegation of birds was from their living in
the sun, or erection made by delibration of the testicles ;
would not have been dejected unto death with this. He
that was so well acquainted with j) on and Trorepor, utrum
and an quia, as we observe in the queries of his problems,
with "i(TU)Q and ln\ to ttoXv, fortasse and plerumqtie, as ia

* lAcetus de Qucesitis. E2nst.

• Another, <i.-c.] The most probable account.

' And if that, tfec] First added in the 2nd edition.

248 THE DEATH OF AEISTOTLE. [BOOK Til.

observable tbrougb all his works, had certainly rested with
probabilities, and glancing conjectures in this. Nor would
his resolutions have ever run into that mortal antanaclasis,
and desperate piece of rhetorick, to be comprised in that he
could not comprehend. Nor is it indeed to be made out,
that he ever endeavoured the particular of Euripus, or so
much as to resolve the ebb and flow of the sea. Eor, as
Vicomercatus and others observe, he hath made no mention
hereof in his works, although the occasion present itself in
his Meteors, wherein he disputeth the affections of the sea ;
nor vet in his Prohlems, although in the twenty-third sec-
tion there be no less than one and forty queries of the sea.
Some mention there is indeed in a work of the propriety of
elements, ascribed unto Aristotle : * which notwithstanding
is not reputed genuine, and was perhaps the same whence
this was urged by Plutarch.

Lastly, the thing itself whereon the opinion dependeth,
that is, the variety of the flux and the reflux of Euripus, or
whether the same do ebb and flow seven times a day, is not
incontrovertible. Eor though Pomponius Mela, and after
him Solinus and Pliny have affirmed it, yet I observe Thucy-
dides, who speaketh often of Eubcea, hath omitted it. Pau-
sanias, an ancient writer, who hath left an exact description
of Gi-reece, and in as particular a way as Leaudro of Italy,
or Camden of Grreat Britain, describing not only the country
towns and rivers, but hills, springs, and houses, hath left no
mention hereof. iEschines in Ctesiphon only aUudeth unto
it ; and Strabo, that accurate geographer, speaks warily of
it, that is, wQ (patTi, and as men commonly reported. And so
doth also Maginus, Velocis ac varii jiuctus est mare, ubi
quater in die, aut septies, ut alii dicunt, reciprocantur cestus.
Botero more plainly, II mar cresce e cala con un impeto mi-
rahile quatra volte il di, ben che eommunimente si dica sette
volte, ^c. — " this sea with wondrous impetuosity ebbeth and
floweth fom" times a day, although it be commonly said seven
times ; and generally opinioned, that Aristotle despairing of
the reason, drowned himself therein." In which descrip-
tion by four times a day, it exceeds not in number the
motion of other seas, taking the words properly, that is,

* De placitis PMlosophorum.

CHAP. XIII.] THE DEATH OT ARISTOTLE. 249

twice ebbing and twice flowing in four and twenty hours.
And is no more than what Thomaso Porrchachi afiirmeth in
his description of famous ishmds, that tw-ice a day it hath
such an impetuous flood, as is not witliout wonder. Livy
speaks more particularly, Haud facile infestior classi statio
est et f return vpsum JEuripi, non septies die (sicut famafert)
temporibus certis reciprocat, sed temere in modum venti, nunc
hunc nunc illuc verso mari, velut monte prcecipiti devolutus
torrens rapitur : — " there is hardly a worse harbour, the fret
or channel of Euripus not certainly ebbing or flowing seven
times a day, according to common report : but being uncer-
tainly, and in the manner of a wind, carried hither and
thither, is whirled away as a torrent down a hill." But the
experimental testimony of Gillius is most considerable of
any ; who having beheld the course thereof, and made en-
quiry of millers that dwelt upon its shore, received answer,
that it ebbed and flowed four times a day, that is, every six
hours, according to the law of the ocean ; but that indeed
sometimes it observed not that certain course. And this
irregularity, though seldom happening, together with its
unruly and tumultuous motion, might afford a beginning
luito the common opinion. Thus may the expression in
Ctesiphon be made out. And by this may Aristotle be
interpreted, when in his Prohlems he seems to borrow a
metaphor from Euripus ; while in the five and twentieth
section he enquireth, why in the upper parts of houses the
air doth Euripize, that is, is whiided hither and thither.

A later and experimental testimony is to be found in the
travels of Monsieur Duloir ; who about twenty years ago,
remained sometime at Negroponte, or old Chalcis, and also
passed and repassed this Euripus ; who thus expresseth
himself : " I wonder much at the error concerning the flux
and reflux of Euripus ; and I assui-e you that opinion is false.
I gave a boatman a crown, to set me in a convenient place,
where for a whole day I might observe the same. It ebbeth
and floweth by six hoiu'S, even as it doth at Venice, but the
course thereof is vehement."^

Now tliat which gave life unto the assertion, might be his
death at Chalcis, the chief city of Euboea, and seated upon

* A later and experimental, tfcc] First added in 6th edition.

250 THE DEATH OF ARISTOTLE. [bOOK TII.

Euripus, where 'tis confessed by all lie ended his days.
That he emaciated and pined away in the too anxious
enquiry of its reciprocations, although not drowned therein,
as Ehodiginus relateth some conceived, was a half confession
thereof not justifiable from antiquity. Surely the philosophy
of flux and reflux was very imperfect of old among the Greeks
and Latins ; nor could they hold a sufiicient theory thereof,
who only observed the Mediterranean, which in some places
hath no ebb, and not much in any part. Nor can we affirm
our knowledge is at the height, who have now the theory of
the ocean and narrow seas beside. While we refer it unto
the moon, we give some satisfaction for the ocean, but no
general salve for creeks and seas which know no flood ; nor
resolve why it flows three or four feet at Venice in the
bottom of the gulph, yet scarce at all at Ancona, Durazzo,
or Corcyra, which lie but by the way. And therefore old
abstrusities have caused new inventions ; and some from the
hypotheses of Copernicus, or the diurnal and annual motion
of the earth, endeavour to salve the flows and motions of
these seas, illustrating the same by water in a bowl, that
rising or falling to either side, according to the motion of
the vessel ; the conceit is ingenious, salves some doubts, and
is discovered at large by Galileo. ***

But whether the received principle and undeniable action
of the moon may not be still retained, although in some
difference of application, is yet to be perpended ; that is not
by a simple operation upon the surface or superior parts,
but excitation of the nitro-sulphureous spirits, and parts
disposed to intumescency at the bottom ; not by attenuation
of the upper part of the sea, (whereby ships would draw
more water at the flow than at the ebb,) but intergescencies
caused first at the bottom, and carrying the upper part
before them ; subsiding and falling again, accorcUng to the
motion of the moon from the meridian, and languor of the
exciting cause : and therefore rivers and lakes who want
these fermenting parts at the bottom, are not excited unto
aestuations ; and therefore some seas flow higher than others,

* Rog. Bac. Doct. Cabeus Met. 2.

® and is discovered at large by Galileo.] And by the Lord Bacon
rejected in his booke, De Fluxu et Refiuxii, Maris. — Wr,

CHAP. XIII.] THE DEATH OP AEISTOTLE. 251

according to the plenty of these spirits, in their submarine
constitutions. And therefore also the periods of flux and
reflux are various, nor their increase or decrease equal :
according to the temper of the terreous parts at the bottom ;
which as they are more hardly or easily moved, do variously
begin, continue, or end their intumescencies.

From the peculiar disposition of the earth at the bottom,
wherein quick excitations are made, may arise those agars^
and impetuous flows in some estuaries and rivers, as is
observed about Trent and Humber in England ; which may
also have some effect in the boisterous tides of Euripus, not
only from ebullitions at the bottom, but also from the sides
and lateral parts, driving the streams from either side, which
arise or fall according to the motion in those parts, and the
intent or remiss operation of the first exciting causes, which
maintain their activities above and below the horizon ; even
as they do in the bodies of plants and animals, and in the
commotion of catarrhs.^

How therefore Aristotle died, what was his end, or upon
what occasion, although it be not altogether assured, yet
that his memory and worthy name shall live, no man will
deny, nor grateful scholar doubt. And if according to the
elogy of Solon, a man may be only said to be happy after he
is dead, and ceaseth to be in the visible capacity of beati-
tude ; or if according unto his own ethicks, sense is not
essential unto felicity, but a man may be happy without the
apprehension thereof; surely in that sense he is pyramidally
happy ; nor can he ever perish but in the Euripe of igno-
~ance, nor till the torrent of barbarism overwhelmeth all.

A like conceit there passeth of Melisigenes, alias Homer,
the father poet, that he pined away upon the riddle of the
fishermen. But Herodotus, who wi'ote his life, hath cleared
this point ; delivering, that passing from Samos unto Athens,
he went sick ashore upon the island los, where he died, and
was solemnly interred upon the sea-side ; and so decidingly
concludeth, Mv Tiac cegritudine extremum diem clausit Ho-
merus in lo, non, ut arbitrantur aliqui, cenigmatis perplexitate
enectus, sed tiwrbo.

^ agar.'\ The tumultuous influx of the tide.

' But whether the received princijile, <hc. From the peculiar, &C.}
rhese two paragraphs were first added in the 2nd edition.

252 OF THL WISH OF PHILOXENUS. [bOOK TII.

CHAPTEE XIV.

Of the V> isk of Philoxenus to have the Neck of a Crane.

That relation of Aristotle, and conceit generally received,
concerning Philoxenus, who wished the neck of a crane,
that thereby he might take more pleasure in his meat,
although it pass without exception, upon enquiry I find not
only doubtful in the story, but absurd in the desire or reason
alleged for it.^ For though his wish were such as is de-
livered, yet had it not perhaps that end to delight his gust
in eating, but rather to obtain advantage thereby in singing,
as is declared by Mirandula. Aristotle, saith he, in his
Ethiclcs and Problems, accuseth Philoxenus of sensuality,
for the greater pleasure of gust desiring the neck of a crane,
which desire of his (assenting unto Aristotle), I have for-
merly condemned. But since 1 perceive that Aristotle for
his accusation hath been accused by divers writers ; — for
Philoxenus was an excellent musician, and desired the neck
of a crane, not for any pleasure at meat, but fancying thereby
an advantage in singing or warbling, and dividing the notes
in music : — and many writers there are which mention a
musician of that name ; as Plutarch in his book against
Usury, and Aristotle himself, in the eighth of his Politicks,
speaks of one Philoxenus, a musician, that went ofl'from the
Dorick dithyrambics unto the Phrygian harmony.

Again, be the story true or false, rightly applied or not,
the intention is not reasonable, and that perhaps neither one
way nor the other. For if we rightly consider the organ of

2 That relation, &c.'\ Our author's observations on this absurd story
are quoted by Dr. John Bulwer, in his Anthropometanmrphosis, &c.
p. 276.

Ross goes into the history of Philoxenus at great length, and adheres,
as usual, most tenaciously to the legend. He contends, and with some
reason, that the absurdity of the wish, if granted, were no argument
against its having been expressed, seeing that many have entertained
wishes far more so. But he even asserts its reasonableness, "that
there is much pleasure in deglutition of sweet meats and unnKs, is
plain by the practice of those who, to supply the want of long necks,
ased to suck their drink out of long small cranes, or quills, or glassea
with long narrow snouts, &c. &c. ! ! "

CUAP. XIV.] OF THE WISH OF PUILOXENTJS. 253

taste, we shall find the length of the neck to conduce but
little unto it ; for the tongue being the instrument of taste,
and the tip thereof the most exact distinguisher, it will not
advantage the gust to have the neck extended ; wherein the
gullet and conveying parts are only seated, which partake
not of the nerves of gustation, or appertaining unto sapor,
but receive them only from the sixth pair ; whereas the
nerves of taste descend from the third and fourth propaga-
tions, and so diffuse themselves into the tongue; and therefore
cranes, herons, and swans, have no advantage in taste beyond
hawks, kites, and others of shorter necks.

Nor, if we consider it, had nature respect unto the taste
in the different contrivance of necks, but rather unto the
parts contained, the composure of the rest of the body, and
the manner whereby they feed. Thus animals of long legs
have generally long necks, that is, for the conveniency of
feeding, as having a necessity to apply their mouths unto
the earth. So have horses, camels, dromedaries, long necks,
and all tall animals, except the elephant, who in defect
thereof is furnished with a trunk, without which he could
not attain the ground. So have cranes, herons, storks, and
shovelards long necks ; and so even in man, whose figure is
erect, the length of the neck foUoweth the proportion of
other parts ; and such as have round faces or broad chests
and shoulders, have very seldom long necks. For the length
of the face twice exceedeth that of the neck, and the space
between the throat-pit and the navel, is equal unto the
circumference thereof. Again, animals are framed with
long necks, according unto tlie course of tlieir life or feeding ;
so many with short legs have long necks, because they feed
in the water, as swans, geese, pelicans, and other fin-footed
animals.^ But hawks and birds of prey have short necks
and trussed legs ; for that which is long is weak and flexible,
and a shorter figure is best accommodated unto that inten-
tion. Lastly, the necks of animals do vary, according to the
parts that are contained in them, which are the weazand and
the gullet. Such as have no weazand and breathe not, have

^ fin-footed amimals.] Wee usually call tbem lether-footed, * but thia
ternie suites with the use more significantlye. — Wr,

* Web-footed rather.

25^! OF THE WISH OF PHILOXENUS. [BOOK VII.

scarce any neck, as most sorts of fishes ; and some none at
all, as all sorts of pectinals, soles, thornback, flounders, and
all crustaceous animals, as crevises,^ crabs, and lobsters.

All wliicb considered, the wish of Philoxenus will hardly
consist with reason. More excusable had it been to have
wished himself an ape,^ which if common conceit speak true,
is exacter in taste than any. Rather some kind of grani-
vorous bird than a crane, for in this sense they are so
exquisite, that upon the first peck of their bill, they can
distinguish the qualities of hard bodies, which the sense of
man discerns not without mastication. Rather some rumi-
nating animal, that he might have eat his meat twice over ;
or rather, as Theophilus observed in Athenseus, his desire
had been more reasonable, had he wished himself an elephant
or a horse ; for in these animals the appetite is more vehe-
ment, and they receive their viands in large and plenteous
manner. And this indeed had been more suitable, if this
were the same Philoxenus whereof Plutarch speaketh, who
was so uncivilly greedy, that, to engross the mess,^ he would
preventively deliver his nostrils in the dish.''

* crerises.] Now called cray-fish.

* an a/3C.] I thiuke an ape is more exacte in the smel then in the
taste : for he never tastes that which hee first smels not too. And how
pleasant soever any food seeme to us, yf itt displease his smel, he throws
it away with a kind of indignation. — Wr.

^ to engross the 'iness.'\ I was assured by a friend that the following
somewhat similar exploit was performed in a commercial traveller's

room at . A dish of green peas was served very early in the

season. One of the party, who preferred high-seasoned peas to most
other vegetables, and himself to everybody besides, took an early
opportunity of offering his services to help the peas, but he began by
peppering them so unmercifully, that it was not very probable they
would suit any other palate than his own. His neighbour, perceivinj"
his own chance thus demolished, expostulated ; and was told in reply
of the virtues of pe^iyjer, as the only thing to make green peas whole-
some. He instantly drew forth his snuff-box, and dextrously scattered
its contents over the dish, as the most summary means which occurred
to him of defeating such palpable selfishness and gluttony, observiixg
drily that he thought snuff an excellent addition to the pepper.

' dish.] There have been some whose slovenleyeness and greedines
have ijequaled his, by throwing a candles end into a messe of creame.
But, more ingenious, frame a peece of aple like a candle, and therein
stick a clove to deceave others of their deyntyes, in fine eating the
counterfet candle. — Wi;

CHAP. XV.] OF THE LAKE ASPHALTITES. 255

As for tlie musical advantage, although it seem more rea-
sonable, yet do we not observe that cranes and birds of long
necks have any musical, but harsh and clangous throats.
But birds that are canorous, and whose notes we most com-
mend, are of little throats and short necks, as nightingales,
finches, linnets, Canary birds, and larks. And truly, although
the weazand, throttle, and tongue be the instruments of voice,
and by their agitations do chiefly concur unto these delightful
modulations, yet cannot we distinctly and peculiarly assign
the cause unto any particular formation : and I perceive the
best thereof, the nightingale, hath some disadvantage in the
tongue, which is not acuminate^ and pointed as the rest,
but seemeth as it were cut off, which perhaps might give the
hint unto the fable of Philomela, and the cutting off her
tongue by Tereus.

CHAPTEE XV.

Of ike Lake Asphaltites.

CoNCEENiNG the Lake Asphaltites, the Lake of Sodom, or
the Dead Sea, that heavy bodies cast therein sink not, but
by reason of a salt and bituminous thickness in the water
float and swim above, narrations already made are of that
variety, we can hardly from thence deduce a satisfactory
determination, and that not only in the story itself, but in
the cause alleged. As for the story, men deliver it variously.^

Counterfeit candles' ends are now made of peppermint, which are
admirable imitations of the attractive originals, and would have per-
fectly supplied the occasion related by the Dean.

® acuminate.'] Yf the acuminate did any thinge to the songe or
speech of birds, how comes itt that the blunt toung in the parat and the
gaye [jay ?] speake best, and in the bulfinch expresses the most excellent
whistle. — Wr.

* As for the story itself, d-c] It is to be reckoned among the many
strange and incredible stories, which both ancients and moderns have
told respecting this lake. Dr. Pococke swam in it for nearly a quarter
of an hour, and felt no inconvenience. He found the water very clear,
and to contain no substances besides salt and alum. The fact is, that
its waters are very salt, and therefore bodies float readily in it ; and
probably on that account few fish can live in it. Yet the monks of
St. Saba assured Dr. Shaw that they had seen fiah caught in the late,
—See Dr. A dam Clarke's note in lo .

256 OF THE LAKE ASPHALTITES. [bOOE VIT.

Some I fear too largely, as Pliny, who affirmetli that bricks
will swim therein. Mandevil goeth further, that iron swim-
meth, and feathers sink. Munster in his Cosmography hath
another relation, although perhaps derived from the poem of
Tertullian, that a candle burning swimmeth, but if extin-
guished sinketh.i Some more moderately, as Josephus, and
many others, affirming that only living bodies float, nor
peremptorily averring they cannot sink, but that indeed they
do not easily descend. Most traditionally, as Galen, Pliny,
Solinus, and Strabo, who seems to mistake the Lake Ser-
bonis for it. Pew experimentally, most contenting themselves
in the experiment of Vespasian, by whose command some
captives bound were cast therein, and found to float as
though they could have swimmed. Divers contradictorily,
or contrarily, quite overthrowing the point.^ Aristotle, in
the second of his Meteors, speaks lightly thereof, wo-tteo
lj.vdoXoyov(Ti, which word is variously rendered, by some as a
fabulous account, by some as a common talk. Biddulphus*
di\ddeth the common accounts of Judea into three parts ;
the one, saith he, are apparent truths, the second apparent
falsehoods, the tliird are dubious or between both, in which
form he ranketh the relation of this lake. But Andrew
Thevet, in his Cosmograjjhy, doth ocularly overthrow it, for
he affirmeth he saw an ass with his saddle cast therein and
drowned. Now of these relations so different or contrary
unto each other, the second is most moderate and safest to
be embraced, which saith that living bodies swim therein,
that is, they do not easily sink, and this, until exact experi-
ment further determine, may be allowed as best consistent
with this quality, and the reasons alleged for it.

As for the cause of this effect, common opinion conceives
it to be the salt and bituminous thickness of the water.
This indeed is probable, and may be admitted as far as the
second opinion concede th. Por certain it is that salt water

* Biddulphi Itinerarium, AnglicL

' smikeih.'] Soe it will doe in anye water, if kept upright. — Wr.

* divers contradictorili/.] This diversity may proceed fi-om the diverse
experiments that have been made on severall sides of the lake, which
have not all the like effecte : in some partes it beares that which in
another part will sinke, as hath been experimented by some late tra-
velers.— Wr.

CHAP. XV.] OF THE LAKE ASPHALTITES. 257

will support a greater burden than fresh ; and we see an egg
will descend in fresh water, which will swim in brine. But
that iron should float therein, from this cause, is hardly
granted ; for heavy bodies will only swim in that liquor,
wherein the weight of their bulk exceedeth not the weight
of so much water as it occupieth or taketh up. But surely
no water is heavy enough to answer the ponderosity of iron,
and therefore that metal will sink in any kind thereof, and
it was a perfect miracle which was wrought this way by
Elisha. Thus we perceive that bodies do swim or sink in
ditferent liquors, according unto the tenuity or gravity of
those liquors which are to support them. So salt water
beareth that weight which will sink in vinegar ; vinegar that
which will fall in fresh water ; fresh water that which will
sink in spirits of wine ; and that will swim in spirits of wine
which will sink in clear oil ; as we made experiment in globes
of wax pierced with light sticks to support them. So that
although it be conceived a hard matter to sink in oil, I
believe a man should find it very difficult, and next to flying
to swim therein. And thus will gold sink in quicksilver,
wherein iron and other metals swim ; for the bidk of gold
is only heavier than that space of quicksilver which it con-
taineth ; and thus also in a solution of one ounce of quick-
silver in two oi aqua for lis, the liquor will bear amber, horn,
and the softer kinds of stones, as we have made trial in.
each.

But a private opinion there is which crosseth the common
conceit, maintained by some of late, and alleged of old by
Strabo, that the floating of bodies in this lake proceeds not
from the thickness of water, but a bituminous ebullition
from the bottom, whereby it wafts up bodies injected, and
sufFereth them not easily to sink. The verity thereof would
be enquired by ocular exploration, for this way is also pro-
bable. So we observe, it is hard to wade deep in baths where
springs arise ; and thus sometime are balls made to play
upon a spouting stream.-*

And therefore, until judicious and ocular experiment con-
firm or distinguish the assertion, that bodies do not sink

^ spouting stream.] This confirmeth what I noted before, for, as in
the hot bathe, so here, the bituminous ebullition is but in some places
stronge, and in some places of the lake not at all. — Wr.
VOL. II. S

258 OF THE LAKE ASPHALTITES. [bOOK Vll.

herein at all, we do not yet believe ; tliat they do, not easily,
or with more difilciilty, descend in this than other water, we
shall readily assent."* But to conclude an impossibility from
a difficulty, or affirm whereas things not easily sink, they do
not drown at all ; beside the fallacy, is a frequent addition in
human expression, and an amplification not unusual as well
in opinions as relations ; which oftentimes give indistinct
accounts of proximities, and without restraint transcend from
one another. Thus, foi'asmuch as the torrid zone was con-
ceived exceeding hot, and of difficult habitation, the opinions
of men so advanced its constitution, as to conceive the same
unhabitable, and beyond possibility for man to live therein.
Thus, because there are no wolves in England, nor have been
observed for divers generations, common people have pro-
ceeded into opinions, and some wise men into affirmations,
they will not live therein, althoiigh brought from other coun-
tries. Thus most men affirm, and few here will believe the
contrary, that there be no spiders in Ireland ; but we have
beheld some in that country ; and though but few, some cob-
webs we behold in Irish wood in England. Thus the croco-
dile from an egg growing up to an exceeding magnitude,
common conceit, and divers writers deliver, it hath no period
of increase, but growetli as long as it liveth.* And thus in
brief, in most apprehensions the conceits of men extend the

•• readily assent.''\ And liee should adde, in some places itt beares, iii
others not. — Wr.

^ growetli, tfcc] This may bee true inoughe in regard of the vast
bignes which is reported of some of them ; and what should hinder ?
For in men and creatures also kept for food, their bulke growes still
greater, though not their stature. — Wr.

It is probably true, of the whole order to which the crocodile belongs
{the saurians), that they have " no period of inci'ease" — they have no
metamorphosis, like many other animals (and some in the same class), to
place a limit, by its completion, to the further growth of the individual.
Nor do they, like the vertebrate animals, ariive early at a maximum of
growth, which is not afterwards increased, except in corpulency. Con-
geniality of climate makes a striking difference in magnitude, at the
.same age, between saurians of different countries (for example, the cro-
codile of the Nile is larger than any other of its species), but in all,
growth, though very slow, is probably continued through life ; unless,
indeed, extreme o\l age may begin the end, by ending the vital power
of growth, which seems probable, but would not impugn our author's
position.

CHAP. XTI.] THE WOMAK THAT CONCEIVED IN A BATH. 259

considerations of things, and dilate their notions beyond the
propriety of their natures.

In the maps of the Dead Sea or Lake of Sodom, we meet
with tlie destroyed cities, and in divers the city of Sodom
placed about the middle, or far from the shore of it ; but that
it could not be far from Segor, which was seated under the
mountains, near the side of the lake, seems inferrible from
the sudden arrival of Lot, who coming from Sodom at day-
break, attained Segor at sun-rising ; and therefore Sodom
ought to be placed not many miles from it, and not in the
middle of the lake, which is accounted about eighteen miles
over ; and so will leave about nine miles to be passed in too
small a space of time.

CHAPTEE XVI.

Of Divers other Bdations, viz. : — Of the Woman that Conceived in a
Bath; — Of Crassm that never Laughed hut once ;—77Mt our Saviour
never Laaghed ; — Of Sergius the Second, or Bocca di Porco ; — That
Tamerlane was a Scythian Shepherd.

The relation of Averroes, and now common in every
mouth, of the woman that conceived in a bath, by attracting
the sperm or seminal effluxion of a man admitted to bathe in
some vicinity unto her,^ I have scarce faith to believe ; and
had I been of the jury, should have hardly thought I had
found the father in the person that stood by her. 'Tis a
new and unseconded way in history to fornicate at a distance,
and much offendeth the rules of physick, which say, there is ■
no generation without a joint emission, nor only a virtual,
but corporal and carnal contaction. And although Aristotle
and his adherents do cut off the one, who conceive no effec-
tual ejaculation in women ; yet in defence of the other they
cannot be introduced. For if, as he believeth, the inordinate
longitude of the organ, though in its proper recipient, may

* hy attracting, <f;c.] No absurdity, which Browne undertakes to
refute— though so gross as not to merit notice, appears too monstrous
to find acceptance with Ross. He finds it " quite possible, even as the
stomach attracteth meat and drink, though in some distance from it."
Tlie conceit respecting Lot is not suggested by the scriptural acoouut,
which only asserts that he did not recognise his daughtere.

S2

liiiO CEASSrS, WHO NETEB LATTGHED. [bOOKTII.

be a mean to inprolificate the seed ; surelj the distance of
place, with the commixture of an aqueous body must prove
an effectual impediment, and utterly prevent the success «.if
a conception. And therefore that conceit concerning the
daughters of Lot, that they were impregnated by their
sleeping father, or conceived by seminal pollution received
at distance from him, will hardly be admitted. And there-
fore what is related of devils, and the contrived delusions of
spirits, that they steal the seminal emissions of men, and
transmit them into their votaries in coition, is much to be
suspected ; and altogether to be denied, that there ensue
conceptions thereupon ; however husbanded by art, and the
wisest menagery of that most subtile impostor. And there^
fore also that our magnified Merlin was thus begotten by
the devil, is a groundless conception ; and as vain to think
from thence to give the reason of his prophetical spirit. For
if a generation could succeed, yet should not the issue in-
herit the faculties of the devil, who is but an auxiliary, and
no univocal actor ; nor will his nature substantially concur
to such productions.

And although it seems not impossible, that impregnation
may succeed from semuial spirits, and vaporous iri'adiations,
containing the active principle, without material and gross
immissions ; as it happeneth sometimes in imperforated per-
sons, and rare conceptions of some much under puberty or
fourteen. As may be also conjectured in the coition of some
insects, wherem the female makes intrusion into the male ;
and from the continued ovation in hens, from one single tread
of a cock, and little stock laid up near the vent, sufficient for
durable prolification. And although also in human genera-
tion the gross and corpulent seminal body may return again,
and the great business be acted by what it carrieth with it ;
yet will not the same suffice to support the story in question,
wherein no corpulent immission is acknowledged ; answer-
able unto the fable of Talmudists, in the story of Benzira,
begotten in the same manner on the daughter of the prophet
Jeremiah,''

2. The relation of Lucillius, and now become common
concerning Crassus, the grandfather of Marcus the wealthy

' And altJtxmgh, <£;e.] This paragraph first added in 3rd edition.

CHAP. XVI.] OtJE BLESSED SAVIOUE. 2G1

Eoman, that lie never laughed but once in all his life, and
that was at an ass eating thistles, is something strange. For,
if an indifterent and unridiculous object could draw his
habitual austereness unto a smile, it wUl be hard to believe
he could with perpetuity resist the proper motives thereof.
For the act of laughter, which is evidenced by a sweet
contraction of the muscles of the face, and a pleasant agita-
tion of the vocal organs, is not merely voluntary, or totally
within the jurisdiction of ourselves, but, as it may be con-
strained by corporal contaction in any, and hath been
enforced in some even in their death, so the new, unusual, or
unexpected, jucundities which present themselves to any man
in his life, at some time or other, will have activity enough
to excitate the earthiest soul, and raise a smile from most
composed tempers. Certainly the times were dull when
these things happened, and the wits of those ages short of
these of ours ; when men could maintain such immutable
faces, as to remain like statues under the flatteries of wit,
and persist unalterable at all efforts of jocularity. The
spirits in hell, and Pluto himself, whom Lucian makes to
laugh at passages upon earth, will plainly condemn these
Saturnines, and make ridiculous the magnified Heraclitus,
who wept preposterously, and made a hell on earth ; for
rejecting the consolations of life, he passed his days in tears,
and the uncomfortable attendments of hell.^

3. The same conceit^ there passeth concerning our blessed
Saviour, and is sometime urged as a high example of gravity.
And this is opinioned, because in Holy Scripture it is
recorded he sometimes wept, but never that he laughed.
Which, howsoever granted, it will be hard to conceive how
he passed his younger years and childhood without a smile,
if as divinity affirmeth, for the assurance of his humanity

^ the uncomfortable, <f;c.] Ross remarks with much reason on this
observation, that "oftentimes there is hell in laughing, and a heaven
in weeping :" and that "good men find not the uncomfortable attend-
ments of hell in weeping, but rather the comfortable enjoyments of
heaven." — Arcana, p. 176.

* The same conceit, (fee] Tis noe argument to say tis never read in
Scripture that Christ laughed, therefore he did never laughe, but on the
other side to affirme, that hee did laughe is therefore dangerous bycausa
unwarrantable and groundles. — Wr.

262 OITE BLESSED SATTOTJE. [bOOK YII.

unto men, and the concealment of his divinity from the
devil, he passed this age like other children, and so proceeded
imtil he evidenced the same. And surely herein no danger
there is to affirm the act or performance of that, whereof we
acknowledge the power and essential property ; and whereby
indeed he most nearly convinced the doubt of his humanity,^
Nor need we be afraid to ascribe that unto the incarnate
Son, which sometimes is attributed imto the uncarnate
Father ; of whom it is said, " He that dwelleth in the
heavens shall laugh the wicked to scorn." For a laugh
there is of contempt or indignation, as well as of mirth and
jocosity : and that our Saviour was not exempted from the
ground hereof, that is, the passion of anger, regulated and
rightly ordered by reason, the schools do not deny ; and,
besides the experience of the money-changers and dove-
sellers in the temple, is testified by St. John, when he saith
the speech of David was fulfilled in our Saviour.*

Now the alogy of this opinion consisteth in the illation ;

it being not reasonable to conclude from Scripture negatively

in points which are not matters of faith, and pertaining unto

salvation. And therefore, although in the description of the

* Zeliis doimls tiice comedit me.

' humanity.'] The doubt of his humanity was convinced soe many
other wayes (before his passion) as by his birth, his circumcision, his
hunger at the fig-tree, his compassion and teai-es over his friend Lazarus,
and those other instances here alleaged, that the propertye of risibihtye
(which is indeed the usuall instance of the schooles) though it bee
inseparable from the nature of man, and incommunicable to any other
nature, yet itt does not infer the necessitye of the acte in every indi-
viduall subject or person of man ; noe more then the power and
propertye of numeration (whereof no other creature in the world is
capable) can make every man an arithmetician. Itt is likewise recorded
of Julius Saturninus, sonne to Philippus (Arabs) the emperor, that from
his birth mMo prorsus cujusqaani commento ad ridenduni moveH
2)0tuerit. — Wr.

It is the characteristic description of our Redeemer that " he was
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Will it not be felt by
every Christian, that lawjhter is utterly out of keeping with the dignity,
the character, and office of him, who himself took our infirmities, and
bare our sins : who spent a life in the endurance of the contradiction
of sinners against himself,— and in the full and constant contemplation
of that awful moment when he was to lay down that life for their sakes f
The difficulty would have been to credit the contrary tradition, had it;
existed.

CHAP. XTI.] BEEGIUS THE SECOTfD. 263

creation tliere be no mention of fire,^ Christian philosophy
did not think it reasonable presently to annihilate that ele-
ment, or positively to decree there was no such thing at all.^
Thus, whereas in the brief narration of Moses there is no
record of wine before the flood, we cannot satisfactorily con-
clude that Noah'* was the first that ever tasted thereof.*
And thus, because the word brain is scarce mentioned once,
but heart above a hundred times in Holy Scripture, phy-
sicians that dispute the principality of parts are not from
hence induced to bereave the animal organ of its priority.
Wherefore the Scriptures being serious, and commonly
omitting such parergies, it wiU be unreasonable from hence
to condemn all laughter, and from considerations incon-
siderable to discipline a man out of his nature. Por this is
by rustical severity to banish all urbanity : whose hartnless
and confined condition, as it stands commended by morality,
so is it consistent with religion, and doth not offend divinity.
4. The custom it is of Popes to change their name at their
creation ; and the author thereof is commonly said to be
Bocca di Porco, or Swines-face ; who therefore assumed the
style of Sergius the 2nd, as being ashamed so foul a name
should dishonour the chair of Peter ; wherein notwith-
standing, from Montacutius and others, I find there may be

* Only in the vulgar Latin, Judg. ix. 53.

' fire.'] There is no mention of metals or fossiles ; and yet wee know
they were created then, or else they could not now bee. — Wr.

3 at all.l Many things may perchance be past over in silence in Holy
Scripture, which notwithstandinge are knowne to bee partes of the
creation, and many things spoken to the vulgar capacity, which must
be understood in a modified sense. But never any thinge soe spoken
as might be convinced of falshood ; soe that either God or Copernicus,
speaking contradictions, cannot both speak truthe. And therefore,
sit Deus verm et omnis homo mendax, that speakes contradictions to
him. — Wr.

* Noah.] Noah was not the first that tasted of the grape : but itt is
expresly sayd, Genes, ix. 21, that Noah was the first husbandman that
planted a vineyard, and that first made wine, and therfore was the first
that dranke of the wine ; which does not only satisfactorily but neces-
sarily oblige us to a beleefe that wine made by expression into a species
of drinke was not kuowne, and therfore not used in that new (dryed)
world till Noah invented itt. Itt was then, as itt is now in the new
westerne plantations, where they have the vine, and eate the grapes
but do not drinke wine, bycause they never began to plant vineyardea
till now of late. — Wr.

2(S4i SEEGIUS THE SECOND. [bOOE VII,

some mistake. For Massonius, who writ the lives of Popes,
acknowledgeth he was not the first that changed his name
in that see ; nor as Platina afJirmeth, have all his successors
precisely continued that custom ; for Adrian the sixth, and
Marcellus the second, did stiU retain their baptismal denomi-
nation. Nor is it proved, or probable, that Sergius changed
the name of Bocca di Porco, for this was his surname,^ or
gentilitious appellation ; nor was it the custom to alter that
with the other : but he commuted his Christian name Peter
for Sergius, because he would seem to decline the name of
Peter the second. A scruple I confess not thought con-
siderable in other sees, whose originals and first patriarchs
have been less disputed ; nor yet perhaps of that reality as
to prevail in points of the same nature. Por the names of
the apostles, patriarchs, and prophets have been assumed
even to aifectatiou. The name of Jesus ^ hath not been
appropriated ; but some in precedent ages have borne that
name, and many since have not refused the Christian name
of Emmanuel. Thus are there few names more frequent
than Moses and Abraham among the Jews. The Turks
without scruple affect the name of Mahomet, and with glad-
ness receive so honourable cognomitiation.

And truly in human occurrences there ever have been
many well directed intentions, whose rationalities will never
bear a rigid examination, and though in some way they do
commend their authors, and such as first began them, yet
have they proved insufficient to perpetuate imitation in such
as have succeeded them. Thus was it a worthy resolution
of Grodfrey, and most Christians have applauded it, that he
refused to wear a crown of gold where his Saviour had worn
one of thorns. Yet did not his successors durably inherit

^ surname.'] Itt might bee his sirename : but doubtles it was first a
nicname fastened on some of his progenitors. — Wr.

^ The name, cfcc] The name of Jesus was not the same, po' omnia,
in Joshua ; and Jesu was never given to any before the angel brought
itt from heaven. The names of patriarches and prophets have been
imposed (not assumed) as memorials (to children) of imitation ; and that
of Emmanuel in a qualified sense onlye. But that never any Pope
would bee stiled Peter the second, proceeds from a mysterye of policye ;
that they may rather seeme successors to his power, then to his name,
which they therefore decline of purpose ; that Christ's vicariate au-
thoritye may seeme to descend not from personal succession, but
immediately from [him] who first derived it on Peter. — Wr,

CEAP. XVI.] TAMEELANE. 265

that scruple, but some were anointed, and solemnly accepted
the diadem of regality. Thus Julius, Augustus, and Tiberius
with great humility or popularity refused the name of
Imperator, but their successors have challenged that title,
and retained the same even in its titularity. And thus, to
come nearer our subject, the humility of Gregory the Grreat
would by no means admit the stile of universal bishop ; but
the ambition of Boniface made no scruple thereof, nor of
more queasy resolutions have been their successors ever
since.

5. That Tamerlane'^ was a Scythian shepherd, from Mr.
Knollis and others, from Alhazen a lean:;ed Arabian who
wrote his life, and was spectator of many of his exploits, we
have reasons to deny. Not only from his birth, — for he was
of the blood of the Tartarian emperors, whose father Og had
for his possession the coimtry of Sagathy, which was no
slender territory, but comprehended all that tract wherein
were contamed Bactriana, Sogdiana, Margiana, and the
nation of the Massagetes, whose capital city was Samarcand,
a place, though now decayed, of great esteem and trade in
former ages) — but from his regal inauguration, for it is said,
that being about the age of fifteen, his old father resigned
the kingdom and men of war unto him. And also from his
education, for as the story speaks it, he was instructed in
the Arabian learning, and afterwards exercised himself
therein. Now Arabian learning was in a manner all the
liberal sciences, especially the mathematicks, and natural
pliilosophy ; wherein, not many ages before him there
flourished Avicenna, Averroes, Avenzoar, Geber, Almanzor,
and Alhazen, cognominal unto him that wrote his history,
whose chronology indeed, although it be obscure, yet in the
opinion of his commentator, he was contemporary unto
Avicenna, and hath left sixteen books of opticks, of great
esteem with ages past, and textuary unto our days.

' Tamerlane.'] His true Scythian name was Temur-Can, which all
storyes corruptly and absurdlye call Tamberlane. — W?:

From the best authorities it appears that the parentage here assigned
to Timur Beg (Tamerlane) is erroneous. His father was Targui, a chief
of the tribe of Berlas, tributary to Jagatai, one of the sons of Jenghis-
(or Chingis) Khan. He was born at Sebz, a suburb of the city of
Kesch. See Bioyraphie Universelle ; Universal History; Lardner'a
Outlines of History.

26G TAMEKLAKE. [bOOK TII,

Now tlie ground of this mistake was surely that which the
Turkish historian declareth. Some, saith he, of our historiana
will needs have Tamerlane to be the son of a shepherd. But
this they have said, not knowing at all the custom of their
country ; wherein the principal revenues of the king and
nobles consisteth in cattle : who, despising gold and silver,
abound in all sorts thereof. And this was the occasion that
some men call them shepherds, and also affirm this prince
descended from them. Now, if it be reasonable, that great
men whose possessions are chiefly in cattle should bear the
name of shepherds, and fall upon so low denominations, then
may we say that Abraham was a shepherd, although too
powerful for four kings ; that Job was of that condition, who
beside camels and oxen had seven thousand sheep,^ and yet
is said to be the greatest man in the east. Thus was Mesha,
king of Moab, a shepherd, who annually paid unto the
crown of Israel, an hundred thousand lambs, and as many
rams. Surely it is no dishonourable course of life which
Moses and Jacob have made exemplary : 'tis a profession
supported upon the natural way of acquisition, and though
contemned by the Egyptians, much countenanced by the
Hebrews, whose sacrifices required plenty of sheep and
lambs. And certainly they were very numerous ; for, at the
consecration of the temple, beside two-and-twenty thousand
oxen, king Solomon sacrificed an hundred and twenty thou-
sand sheep : and the same is observable from the daily
provision of his house ; which was ten fat oxen,^ twenty oxen
out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, beside roebuck,
fallow deer, and fatted fowls. Wherein notwithstanding (if
a punctual relation thereof do rightly inform us), the Grand
Seignior doth exceed ; the daily provision of whose seraglio
in the reign of Achmet, beside beeves, consumed^ two
hundred sheep, lambs and kids when they were in season

s sheep."] Sir Wm. Jorden, of Wiltes, in tbe plaines, aspired to come
to the number of 20,000 : but with all his endeavour could never bring
them beyond 18,000. He lived since 1630.— PFr.

" oxen, ffcc] That is, in theyeare, of beeves, 10,950, of sheep, 36,500.
— Wr.

' consumed, d-c] Of sheep, lambs, kids, 109,500. And yet this
cann raise noe greats wonder considering how manye mouthes were
tiayly fed at Solomon's tables, his concubines, his officers, his guards,
and all sorts of inferior attendants on him and them : of which kin ies

CHAP. XVII.] POVEETT OP BELISAEIUS. 2G7

one hundred, calves ten, geese fifty, hens two hundred,
chickens one hundred, pigeons a hundred pair.

And therefore this mistake, concerning the noble Tamer-
lane, was like that concerning Demosthenes, who is said to
be the son of a blacksmith, according to common conceit,
and that handsome expression of Juvenal ;

Quern pater ardentis massa fuligine lippus,
A carbone et forcipibus, gladiosque parente
Incude, et luteo Vulcano, et Ehetora misit.

Thus Englished by Sir Robert Stapleton :

Whom's Father with the smoky forge half blind,
From blows on sooty Vulcan's anvil spent
In ham'ring swords, to study Ehet'rick sent.

But Plutarch, who writ his life, hath cleared this conceit,
plainly affirming he was most nobly descended, and that
this report was raised, because his father had many slaves
that wrought smith's work, and brought the profit unto
him.2

CHAPTEE XVII.

Of some others, viz., — of the poverty of Belisarius ; of Fluctus Decuviamcs,
or the tenth ivave ; of Parisatis that jioisoned Statira hy one side of a
Tcnife ; of the Woman fed with poison that should have poisoned A lex-
ander ; of Ijie Wandering Jew ; of Pope Joan ; of Friar Bacons
brazen head that sjioke ; of Epiciwus.

"VVe are sad when we read the story of Belisarius, that
worthy chieftain of Justinian ; who, after his victories over
Vandals, Goths, Persians, and his trophies in three parts of
the world, had at last his eyes put out by the emperor, and
was reduced to that distress, tluit he begged relief on tlie
highway, in that uncomfortable petition, date oholum Beli-
sario? And this we do not only hear in discourses, orations,

the Grand Signeur raainteyns greater multitudes daylye in the
Seraglio. — Wr.

^ And this mistalce, d;c.] This paragraph was first added in the 2nd
edition, except the translation, which was added in the 6th edition.

^ We are sad, tt-c] Lord Mahon, in his life of Belisarius, adopts this
traditional account of him, as the most likely to be true ; and gives at
the close of the work his reasons at large.

2G8 POVEETT OF BELTSAEIUS. [bOOK VII.

and themes, but find it also in the leaves of Petrus (^I'initus,
Voiaterranus, and other worthy writers.

But, what may somewhat consolate all men that honour
virtue, we do not discover the latter scene of his misery in
authors of antiquity, or such as have expressly delivered the
stories of those times. For, Suidas is silent herein, Cedrenus
and Zonaras, two grave and punctual authors, delivering
only the confiscation of his goods, omit the history of his
mendication. Paulus Diaconus goeth farther, not only
passing over this act, but afiirming his goods and dignities
were restored. Agathius, who lived at the same time, de-
clared he sufiered much from the envy of the court ; but
that he descended thus deep into affliction, is not to be
gathered from his pen. The same is also omitted by Pro-
copius,* a contemporary and professed enemy unto Justinian
and Belisarius, who hath left an opprobrious book against
them both.

And in this opinion and hopes we are not single, but
Andreas Aniatus the civilian in his Parerga, and Franciscus
de Corduba in his DidascaUa, have both declaratorily con-
fixmed the same, which is also agreeable unto the judgment
of Nicolaus Alemannus, in his notes upon that bitter history
of Procopius. Certainly sad tragical stories are seldom
drawn within the circle of their verities ; but as their
relators do either intend the hatred or pity of the persons,
so are they set forth with additional amplifications. Thus
have some suspected it hath happened unto the story of
ffidipus : and thus do we conceive it hath fared with that
of Judas, wlio, having sinned above aggravation, and com-
mitted one villany which cannot be exasperated by all other,
is also charged with the murder of his reputed brother,
parricide of his father, and incest with his own mother,'^ as

* 'AvEKSora, or Arca7ia Historia.

* is also charged, &c.'] Surely yf these had been true, St. John, who
cals him a theefe in plaine termes, would never have concealed such
unparalleled villanyes. They could not bee don after his treason, the
halter followed that soe closelye ; and had they been don before, neither
could he have escaped the laws of Judfea, most severe against such
hideous crimes ; nor would the Sonne of God have endured the scandal
of such a knowne miscreant, much lesse have chosen him among the
twelve apostles. Judas deserved as much detestation as his unparaleld

CHAP. XVIT.] OF THE TffSPTH "WATE. 269

Florilegus or Matthew of "Westminster hath at large related.
And thus hath it perhaps befallen the noble Belisarius ;
who, upon instigation of the Empress, having contrived the
exile, and very hardly treated Pope Serverius, Latin pens,
as a judgment of God upon this fact, have set forth his
future suflerings ; and, omitting nothing of amplification,
they have also delivered this ; which, notwithstanding
Johannes the Greek makes doubtful, as may appear from
his lamhicks in Baronius, and might be a mistake or mis-
application, translating the affliction of one man upon
another, for the same befell unto Johannes Cappadox,* con-
temporary unto Belisarius, and in great favour with Justinian;
who being afterwards banished into Egypt, was fain to beg
relief on the highway.^

2. That fluctiis decumanu&,^ or the tenth wave is greater
and more dangerous than any other, some no doubt will be
* Procop, Bell, Persic, l.'Aprov i) 6/3oX6j/ airtlcrSiai.

and matchless crinjes could any way deserve. But noe cause of such
detestation could be soe just, as to produce such prodigious fictions in
the writings of Christians : whome the recorded example of the Arch-
angel Michael hath taught, not to rayle against, much less to belye the
Divel himselfe. — Wr.

* and might be a mistake, cfcc] First added in 2nd edition.
^ Fluctus decumanus, cf'c] Ross says that our author "troubles him-
self to no purpose in refuting the greatness of the tenth wave and tenth
egg : for the tenth of anything was not counted the greatest, but the
greatest of anything was called the tenth, because that is the first
perfect number ; therefore anything that was greater than anotlier was
called decumanus. So porta decumaiia, limes decumanus, decumana pyra,
and 2Wmum decumanum as well as ovum decumanum." — Arc. p. 178.

Mr. Forbes, in his Oriental Memoirs, describing the effect of the
monsoon upon the ocean, says, "every ninth wave is observed to be
more tremendous than the rest, and threatens to overwhelm the settle-
ment of Anjengo."

The following passage occurs in Dr. Henderson's Iceland, vol. ii.
p. 109 : "Owing to a heavy swell from the ocean, we found great diffi-
culty in landing, and were obliged to await the alternation of the waves
in the following order : — first, three heavy surges broke with a tre-
mendous dash upon the rocks ; these were followed by six smaller ones,
which just afforded us time to land ; after which the three large ones
broke again, and so on in regular succession."

"The typhon is a strong swift wind, that blows from all points, and
is frequent in the Indian seas ; raising them, with its strong whirling
about, to a great height, every tenth wave r'-ing above the rest." — Losa
of the ship Faivny,

270 or THE TENTH WAVE. [bOOK TII.

offended if we deny ; and liereby we shall seem to contradict
antiquity ; for, answerable unto the literal and common
acception, the same is averred by many writers, and
plainly described by Ovid.

Qui venit hie fluctus, fluctus supereminet omnes,
Posterior nono est, undecimoque prior.

Which notwithstanding is evidently false ; nor can it be
made out by observation either upon the shore or the ocean,
as we have with diligence explored both. And sm-ely in
vain we expect a regularity in the waves of the sea, or in the
particular motions thereof, as we may in its general recipro-
cations, whose causes are constant, and effects therefore
correspondent. AYhereas its fluctuations are but motions
subservient ; which winds, storms, shores, shelves, and every
interjacency irregulates. AVith semblable reason we might
expect a regularity in the winds ; whereof though some be
statary, some anniversary, and the rest do tend to detei'mine
points of heaven, yet do the blasts and undulary breaths thereof
maintain no certainty in their course, nor are they numerally
feared by navigators.

Of affinity hereto is that conceit of ovum decumanum ;
so called, because the tenth egg is bigger than any other,
according unto the reason alleged by Festus, decumana ova
dicuntur, quia ovum decimum majus naseitur. For the
honour we bear unto the clergy, we cannot but wish this
true : but herein will be found no more of verity than in
the other ; and surely few will assent hereto without an
implicit credulity, or Pythagorical submission imto every
conception of number.

For surely the conceit is numeral, and, though in the
sense apprehended, relateth unto the number of ten, as
Franciscus Sylvius hath most probably declared. For,
whereas amongst simple numbers or digits, the number of
ten is the greatest : therefore whatsoever was the greatest
in every kind, might in some sense be named from this
number. Now, because also that which was the greatest,
was metaphorically by some at first called decuniatius, there-
fore whatsoever passed under this name, was literally
conceived by others to respect aud make good this number.

The conceit is also Latin ; for the Grreeks, to express the

CHAP. XTII.] OF POISONS. 271

greatest wave, do use the number of three, that is, the word
TpiKVjiia, which is a concurrence of three waves in one,
whence arose the proverb, TpiKv/jla KaKuti', or a trifluctuation
of evils, which Erasmus doth render, malorum fluctiis decu-
manus. And thus although the terms be very difterent, yet
are they made to signify the self-same thing : the number
of ten to explain the number of three, and the single number
of one wave the collective concurrence of more.

3. The poison of Parysatis,^ reported from Ctesias by
Plutarch in the life of Artaxerxes (whereby, anointing a
knife on the one side, and therewith dividing a bird, with
the one half she poisoned Statira, and safely fed herself on
the other), was certainly a very subtle one, and such as our
ignorance is well content it knows not. But surely we had
discovered a poison that would not endure Pandora's box,
could we be satisfied in that which for its coldness nothing
could contain but an ass's hoof, and wherewith some report
that Alexander the Great was poisoned. Had men derived
so strange an eftect from some occult or hidden qualities,
they might have silenced contradiction ; but ascribing it
unto the manifest and open qualities of cold, they must
pardon our belief; who perceive the coldest and most
Stygian waters may be included in glasses ; and by Aris-
totle, who saith that glass is the perfectest work of art, we
understand they were not then to be invented.

And though it be said that poison will break a Venice
glass,^ yet have we not met with any of that nature.
Were there a truth herein, it were the best preservative for
princes and persons exalted unto such fears ; and surely far
better than divers now in use. And though the best of
China dishes, and such as the emperor doth use, be thought
by some of infallible virtue unto this effect, yet will they
not, I fear, be able to elude the mischief of such intentions.
And though also it be true, that God made all things
double, and that if we look upon the works of the Most

' The poison of Parysatis.'] This is treated as fabulous by Paris and
Fonblanque, in the '20th vol. of whose Medical Jurisprudence, p. 131,
&c. will be found a lonrr article on poisons.

* poison luill break a Venice fjla-s.'] Such is the venom of some spiders
that they "will crack a Venice glass, as I have seen ; and Scaliger dotli
witness the same — however the doctor denies it. — Ross, Arc. 146

272 OF poisoisg, [book vii.

High, there are two and two, one against another ; that one
contrary hath another, and poison is not without a poison
unto itself; yet hath the curse so far prevailed, or else our
industry defected, that poisons are better known than
their antidotes, and some thereof do scarce admit of any.
And lastly, although unto every poison men have delivered
many antidotes, and in every one is promised an equality
unto its adversary, yet do we often find they fail in their
effects : too/?/ will not resist a weaker cup than that of Circe ;
a man may be poisoned in a Lemnian dish ; without the
miracle of John, there is no confidence in the earth of
Paul ;* and if it be meant that no poison could work upon
him, we doubt the story, and expect no such success from
the diet of Mithridates.

.A story there passeth of an Indian king, that sent unto
Alexander a fair woman, fed with aconites and other
poisons, with this intent, either by converse or copulation
complexionally to destroy him. For my part, although the
design were true, I should have doubted the success.^
For, though it be possible that poisons may meet with
tempers whereto they may become aliments, and we
observe from fowls that feed on fishes, and others fed with
garlick and onions, that simple aliments are not always con-
cocted beyond tlieir vegetable qualities ; and tlierefore that
even after carnal conversion, poisons may yet retain some
portion of their natures ; yet are they so refracted, cicurated,^
and subdued, as not to make good theii* first and destructive
malignities. And therefore [to] the stork tliat eateth
snakes, and the stare that feedeth upon hemlock, [these]
though no commendable aliments, are not destructive

* Terra Melitea.

' success.l Hee that remembers how the Portuguez mixing with the
women in the eastern islands founde such a hot overmatching com-
plexion in them, that as the son puts out a candle, soe itt quentcht their
hot luste with the cold gripes of deathe ; may easilye conceive, without
an mstance, what a quick effect such venemous spirits make by a con-
taeioas transfusion. Nor is there the same danger in eatinge of a duck
that feeds on a toade, as in the loathsome copulation with those bodves,
wnose touch is formidable as the fome of a mad dog, the touch whereo/
haa been found as deadly to some, as the wound cf his teeth to
others. — Wr.

' dcwated.^ Tamed : — a Brownism,

CHAP. XYII.] OF THE WANDERING JEW. 273

poisons.* For, animals that can innoxiously digest these
poisons, become antidotal unto the poison digested.
And therefore, whether their breath be attracted, or their
flesh ingested, the poisonous relicks go still along with their
antidote ; whose society will not permit their malice to be
destructive. And therefore also, animals that are not mis-
chieved by poisons which destroy us, may be drawn into
antidote against them ; the blood or flesh of storks against
tlie venom of serpents, the quail against hellebore, and
the diet of starlings against the draught of Socrates.^
Upon like grounds are some parts of animals alesiphar-
mical unto others ; and some veins of the earth, and also
whole regions,^ not only destroy the life of venomous crea-
tures, but also prevent their productions. For though
perhaps they contain the seminals of spiders and scorpions,
and such as in other earths by suscitation'* of the sun may
arise unto animation ; yet lying under command of their
antidote, without hope of emergency they are poisoned in
their matrix by powers easily hindering the advance of
tlieir originals, whose confirmed forms they are able to
destroy.

5. The story of the wandering Jew is very strange, and
will hardly obtain belief; yet is there a formal account
thereof set down by Matthew Paris, from tlie report of an
Armenian bishop,^ who came into this kingdom about four

* [to] [these] these words seem indispensable to complete the sense
evidently intended.

^ Socrates.] That is, henbane. — Wr.

^ vjJiole regions.] As Ireland and Crete neither breede nor bi-ooke
any venemous creature, which was a providence of God, considering
that noe creature can be worse than the natives themselves. — T-r;-.

Is this remark perfectly in keeping with the character of a Christian
minister ?

■* suscitation.] Excitement.

" Armenian bisho]).] And that reporte of a wandering bishop is the
ground of this absurd figment: for what's become of him ever since
that time ? But 'tis noe wonder to finde a wandring Jew in all partes
of the world ; for what are all the nation but wanderers ? Inmates to
the world, and strangers noe where soe much as in their owne
countrye. — Wr.

"This fable of the wandering Jew, once almost generally believed,
probably suggested the fabrication of tiie tale of the w;indering Gentile
m later times : they are both included in a work, entitled News froin.

VOL. II. T

274 POPE JO ATT. [book TII.

liundred years ago, and had often entertained tliis wan-
derer at his table. That he was then alive, was first called
Cartaphilus, was keeper of the judgment hall, whence
thrusting out our Saviour with expostulation for his stay,
was condemned to stay until his return ;* was after bap-
tized by Ananias, and by the name of Joseph ; was thirty
years old in the days of our Saviour, remembered the saints
that arose with him, the making of the apostles' creed, and
their several peregrinations. Surely were tliis true, he
might be an happy arbitrator in many Christian contro-
versies ; but must unpardonably condemn the obstinacy of
the Jews, wlio can contenni the rhetorick of such miracles,
and blindly behold so living and lasting conversions.

G.*^ Clearer confirmations must be drawn for the history
of Pope Joan, who succeeded Leo the Fourth, and pre-
ceded Benedict the Third, than many we yet discover.
And since it is delivered with aiunt and ferunt by many ;
since the learned Leo Allatiushath discoveredf that ancient
copies of Martinus Polonus, who is chiefly urged for it,
had not this story in it ; since not only the stream of Latin
historians have omitted it, but Photius the Patriarch,
Metrophanes Smyrnaeus, and the exasperated Greeks have
made no mention of it, but conceded Benedict the Third to
be successor unto Leo the Fourth ; he wants not grounds
that doubts it.''

* Vade, quid moraris? ego vado, tu autcm morare donee venio.
■f" Confutatio fabulce de Joanna Papissa cum Nibusio,

Holland ; or a short relation of two witnesses, now living, of the suffer-
ing and passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ : the one being a Gentile,
the other a Jew," &c. in High Dutch. Amsterdam, 1647, London, 164S,
4to. See Huttman's Lifeof Ckrist, -p. 67. The Spaniard, who wrote one
of the most amusing of critiques on John Bull, under the title of Don
Manud Alvarez Espriella's Letters from England, has enlivened his narra-
tive of the wandering Jew with the following incident : " The Jew had
awarded his preference to Spain above all the countries he had seen ; as
perhaps" — ingeniously remarks the soi-disant >S)xt»(s^ narrator — "a
man would who had really seen all the world." But on being reminded
that it was rather extraordinary that a Jew should prefer the countiy
of the Inquisition, the ready rogue answered, with a smile and <a shake
of the head, " that it was long before Christianity when he last visited
Spain, and that he should not return till long after it was all over."

*.] The remainder of the chapter was first added in 2nd edition.

'' the history of Pope Joan.'\ Not only the final catastrophe of this
lady's career, as recorded in the well-known Latin line, " Papa, pater

CHAP. XTII.] FRIAE. BACON. EPICURUS. 275

Many things liistorical, which seem of clear concession,
want not affirmations and negations, according to divided
pens : as is notoriously observable in the story of Hildebrand
or Gregory the Seventh, repugnantly delivered by the im-
perial and papal party. In such divided records, partiality
hath much depraved history, wherein if the equity of the
reader do not correct the iniquity of the Avriter, he will be
much confounded with repugnancies, and often find, in the
same person, Numa and Nero. In things of this nature
moderation must intercede ; and so charity may hope that
Roman readers will construe many passages in Bolsec,
Fay us, Schlusselberg, and Cochlseus.

7. Every ear is filled with the story of Priar Bacon,
that made a brazen head to speak these words, time is.^
Which though there want not the like relations, is surely
too literally received, and was but a mystical fable concern-
ing the philosopher's great work, wherein he eminently
laboured: implying no more by the copper head, than
the vessel wherein it was wrought, and by the words it
epake, than the opportunity to be Avatched, about the
tempus ortus, or birth of the mystical child, or philosophical
king of Lallius ; the rising of the terra foliata of Arnoldus,
when the earth, sufficiently impregnated with the water,
ascendeth white and splendent. Which not observed, the
work is irrecoverably lost, according to that of Petrus
Bonus: Ihi est operis perfeetio aut anniliilatio ; qxiomam
ipsa die, imino hord, oriimtur elementa simplicia depurata,
qucB ec/ent statim compositione, anteqiiam volent ah igne*

Now letting slip this critical opportunity, he missed the
intended treasure, which had he obtained, he might have
made out the tradition of making a brazen wall about
England : that is, the most powerful defence, and strongest
fortification which gold could have effected.

8. Who can but pity tlie virtuous Epicurus, who is com-
monly conceived to have placed his chief felicity in pleasure

* Marganta pretiosa.

patrum, pcperit Pcqiissa papillum," — but even her very existence itself
aeuras now to be universally rejected by the best authorities, Protestant
as well as Catholic, asa fabrication from beginning to end.

* a brazen Iteud.] This ridiculous story was originally imputed, not
to Roger Eacon, but to Itobert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln,

x2

276 AKilt OF XERXES. [bOOK ....

and sensual delights, and hath therefore left an infamous
name behind him ? How true, let them determine who read
that he lived seventy years, and wrote more books than ai
philosoplier but Chrysippus, and no less than three hundrei
without borrowing from any author : that he was contente
with bread and water ; and when he would dine with Jove,
and pretend unto epulation, he desired no other addition
than a piece of Cytheridian cheese : that shall consider the
words of Seneca,^ Non dico, quod plerique nostrorum, sectam
Epicuri jimjitiorum onagistrum esse : sed illud dico, male
audit, infamis est, et immerito : or shall read his life, his
epistles, his testament in Laertius, who plainly names them
calumnies, which are commonly said against them.

The ground hereof seems a misapprehension of his opinion,
wlio placed his felicity not in the pleasures of the body, but
the mind, and tranquillity thereof, obtained by wisdom and
virtue, as is clearly determined in his epistle unto Menaeceus.
Now how this opinion was first traduced by the Stoicks, how
it afterwards became a common belief, and so taken up by
authors of all ages, by Cicero, Plutarch, Clemens, Ambrose,
and others, the learned pen of Gassendus hath discovered.*^

CHAPTEE XVIII.

More hricfly of some others, viz. : that the Army of Xerxes arank whole
Rivers dry ; that Hannibal eat throurjh the A Ijjs with Vinegar ; of
Archimedes, his burning the Ships of Marcellus ; of the Fabii that were
all slain; of the Death of ^'Eschylus ; of the Cities of Tarsus and An-
chiale built in one day ; of the great Ship Syracmia or Alexandria ;
of the Spartan Boys.

1. Other relations there are, and those in very good
authors, which though we do not positively deny, yet have
* De vita et moribus Epicuri,

^ That shall consider the wards of Seneca."] That is, " let them deter-
mine the words of Seneca," ^c.

' Who can butjiity, <tc.] Ross is unmerciful in his reprobation of our
author's defence of Ei)icurus. Yet some of those who were among the
opponents of that philosopher's doctrines, — for example, Cicero, Plu-
tarch, and Seneca, have awarded him, in reference to the particular
cliarges here spoken of, the same acquittal which JJrowne has pro*
ftounced.

i

CHAP. XVIII.] UAKNliJAL, CUTTING THEOUGH THE ALPS. 277

thev not been uiiquestioned by some, and at least as im-
probable truths have been received by others. Unto some
it hath seemed nicredible what Herodotus reporteth of the
great army of Xerxes, that drank whole rivers chy. And
unto the author himself it appeared wondrous strange, that
they exhausted not the provision of the country, rather than
the waters thereof. For as he maketh the account, and
Buddeus de Asse correcting their miscompute of Valla
delivereth it, if every man of the army had had a clienix of
corn a day, that is, a sextary and a half, or about two pints
and a quarter, the army had daily expended ten hvuidred
thousand and forty medimnas, or measures containing six
bushels.2 Which rightly considered, the Abderites had
reason to bless the heavens, that Xerxes eat but one meal a
day, and Pythius, his noble host, might with less charge and
possible provision entertain both him and his army ; and yet
may all be salved, if we take it hyperbolically, as wise men
receive that expression in Job, concerning behemoth or the
elephant, " Behold, he drinketh up a river and hasteth not ;
he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth."

2. That Hannibal ate or brake through the Alps with
vinegar may be too grossly taken, and the author of his life
annexed unto Plutarch, affirmeth only he used this artifice
upon the tops of some of the highest mountains. Por as it
is vulgarly vmderstood, that he cut a passage for his army
through those mighty mountains, it may seem incredible,
not only in the greatness of the effect, but the quantity of
the efficient, and such as behold them may think an ocean of
vinegar too little for that effect.^ 'Twas a work indeed

'^ hiishcls.'\ But the wonder is not soe much how they could consume
soe much eorne, as where they could have it soe sodenly. But it seemes
the learned author heere mistooke his accompte. For 1,000,000 quarts
(allowing for every one in his army a quarte, and 16 quartos to a
Lushell), amount to noe more then 62,499 bushels, or 10,416 medimnas,
which would not loade 1000 wagons, a small ba£ra:acre for so great an
army not to be wondered at. — Wr.

•* an ocean, <£;c.] There needed not more than some few hogsheatls
of vinegar, for having hewed downe the woods of firr growing there,
and with the huge piles thereof calcined the tops of some cliffes which
stood in his waye ; a small quantity of vinegar poured on the fired
glowing rocks would make them cleave in sunder, as is manifest in
calcined flints, which being ofteo burned and as often quentcht ia

278 AKCniMEDES. THE FABII. [bOOK TII.

rather to be expected from earthquakes and inundations,
than any corrosive Tvaters, and much condemneth the judg-
ment of Xei'xes, that wrought through Mount Athos with
mattocks.

3. That Archimedes burnt the ships of Marcellus, with
specukims of parabohcal iigures, at three furlongs, or as
some will have it, at the distance of three miles, sounds hard
unto reason and ax'tificial experience, and therefore justly
questioned by Kircherus, who after long enquirj- could find
but one made by Manfredus Septalius* that fired at fifteen
paces. And therefore more probable it is that that the
ships were nearer the shore or about some thirty paces, at
which distance notwithstanding the eftect was very great.
But whereas men conceive the ships were more easily set on
flame by reason of the pitch about them, it seemeth no
advantage ; since burning glasses will melt pitch or make it
boil, not easily set it on fire.

4. The story of the Pabii, whereof three hundred and six
marching against the Veientes were all slain, and one child
alone to support the family remained, is siu'ely not to be

* De luce et umbra.

vinegar, •will in fine turne into an impalpable powder, as is truly ex-
perimented, and is dayly manifest in the lime kilnes.— Wr.

Dr. Mc Keever, in a paper in the 5th vol. of the Annals of Philosophy,
N. S. discusses this question, and arrives at the conclusion that, in all
probability, the expansive operation of the fire on the water -which had
been percolating through the pores and fissures of the rocks, occasioned
the detachment of large portions of it by explosion, just as masses of
rock are frequently detached from cliffs, and precipitated into adjoin-
ing valleys, by a similar physical cause. Dr. M.. notices the annual
disruption of icebergs in the Polar seas, on the return of summer, as a
phenomenon bearing considerable analogy to the preceding. Mr.
Brayley supposes that Hannibal might have used vinegar to dissolve
partially a particular mass of limestone, which might impede his passage
through some narrow pass. Dr. M. suggests that he might attribute
to the vinegar and fire what the latter actually effected by its action on
the water, and would have effected just as well without the ^anegar.
But perhaps after all the only vinegar employed might be pyroligneous
acid, produced from the wood by its combination, without any inten-
tion on the part of Hannibal, though its presence would very naturally
have been attributed to design by the ignorant spectators of his opera-
tions, which, on this theory, may be supposed to have been conducted
on a full knowledge of the effects thej' would produce, in the explosive
removal of the obstacles which obstructed his advance.

CHAP. 5TIII.] MIEO. DEATH OF JESCHTLTJS. 279

paralleled, nor easy to be conceived, except we can imagine that
of thi'ee hundred and six, but one had children below the
service of war, that the rest were all unmarried, or the wife
but of one impregnated.'*

5. The received story of Milo, who by daily lifting a calf,
attained an ability to carry it being a bull, is a witty conceit,
and handsomely sets forth the efficacy of assuefaction. But
surely the account had been more reasonably placed iipon
some person not much exceeding in strength, and such a one
as without the assistance of custom could never have per-
formed that act, which some may presume that Milo, without
precedent, artifice, or any other preparative, had strength
enough to perform. For as relations declare, he was the
most pancratical man of Greece, and as Galen reporteth, and
Mercurialis in his Gymnastics representeth, he was able to
persist erect upon an oiled plank, and not to be removed by
the force or protrusion of three men. And if that be true
which Athenaeus reporteth, he was little beholding to custom
for his ability ; for in the Olympic games, for the space of a
furiong, he carried an ox of four years ^ upon his shoulders,
and the same day he carried it in his belly ; for as it is
there delivered, he eat it up himself. Surely he had been a
proper guest at Grandgousier's feast, and might have
matched his throat that eat six pilgrims for a salad.*

G. It much disadvantageth the panegyrick of SynesiuSjt
and is no small disparagement unto baldness, if it be true
what is related by Julian concerning J^^schylus, whose bald
pate was mistaken for a rock, and so was brained by a tortoise

* In Rahclais.
f Who writ in the praise of baldness. An argument or instance
against the motion of the earth.

■• 3.] This and the following paragraph, as well as § 12, were first
added in 2nd edition.

* an ox, rtc] An ox of 4 years in Greece did not fequal one with us
of 2 ; whereof having taken out the bowels and the heade and the hide,
and the feete and all that which they call the offall, we may well thiiike
the four quarters, especially yf the greate bones were all taken out,
could not weigh much above a 1001b. weight. Now the greater wonder
is hov/ he could eate soe much, then to carry itt. Itt is noe newes for
men in our dayes to carry above 400 weight ; but few men can eate
100 weight, excepting they had such a gyant-like bulke as hoe
had, — Wr.

280 SHIP STKACUSIA. [bOOK VII.

■nbicli an eagle let I'all upon it. Certainly it was a very
great mistake in the perspicaey of that animal. Some men
critically disposed, would from hence confute the opinion of
Copernicus, never conceiving how the motion of the earth
below, should not wave him from a knock perpendicularly
directed from a body in the air above.

7. It crosseth the proverb, and Rome might well be built
in a day, if that were true which is traditionally related by
Strabo ; that the great cities, Anchiale and Tarsus,^ were
built b)' Sardanapalus, both in one day, according to tlie
inscription of his monument, Sardanajyalus Anacyndarcixis
filius, Ancliialem et Tarsum una die csdificavi, tu autem
hospes, cde, hide, lihe, ^c. Which if strictly taken, that is,
for the finishing thereof, and not only for the beginning ; for
an artificial or natural day, and not one of Daniel's weeks,
that is, seven whole years ; surely their hands were very
heavy that wasted thirteen years in the private house of
Solomon. It may be wondered how forty years were spent
in the erection of the temple of Jerusalem, and no less than
an hundred in that famous one of Ephesus. Certainly it
was the greatest architecture of one day, since that great one
of six ; an art quite lost witli our mechanics, a work not to be
made out, but like the walls of Thebes, and such an artificer
as Amphion.

8. It had been a sight only second unto the ark to have
beheld the great Syracusia, or mighty ship of Hiero, described
in Athenfeus ; and some have thought it a very large one,
wherein were to be found ten stables for horses, eight towers,
besides fish-ponds, gardens, tricliniums, and many fair rooms
paved with agath and precious stones. But nothing was

^ Anchiale and Tarsus.'\ A single fortress, as that of Babell, is called
a city. Genes, xi. 4. In imitation whereof, built by Nimrod, the first
Assyrian Monarch, itt is possible that Sardanapalus, the last Monarcli,
but withall the greatest in power, and purse, and people, might easily
raise such a fortresse in a daye, having first brought all the materials in
place, and if one, he might as well have built ten in several places.
Now these cityes were about 4 hundred miles distant, Tai-sus on the
banke of Sinus, Issicus in Cilicia, and Anchiala on the banke of the
Euxine Sea in Pontus, both border townes, dividing Natolia on the
lesser Asia from the greater Asia, and were the 2 frontire townes of the
Assyrian Monarchie, and were built for the ostentation of his vast
spreading dominions, and both in a day raised, for ostentation of his
power. — Wr,

CHAP. XYlIt.] THE SPARTAN BOYS. 281

impossible unto Archimedes, the learned contriver thereof;
nor shall we question his removing the earth, when he finds
an immoveable base to place his engine unto it.

97 That the PamphiliaiU sea gave way unto Alexander, in
his intended march toward Persia, many have been apt to
credit, and Josephus is willing to believe, to countenance the
passage of the Israelites through the Eed Sea. But Strabo,
who writ before him, delivereth another account ; that the
mountain climax, adjoining to the Pamphilian sea, leaves a
narrow passage between the sea and it ; which passage at an
ebb and quiet sea all men take ; but Alexander coming in
the winter, and eagerly pursuing his aftairs, would not wait
for the reflux or return of the sea ; and so was fain to pass
with his army in the water, and march up to the navel in it.

10. The relation of Plutarch, of a youth of Sparta that
suffered a fox, concealed under his robe, to tear out his
bowels before he would, either by voice or countenance,
betray his theft; and the other, of the Spartan lad, that witli
the same resolution suffered a coal from the altar to burn
his arm; although defended by the author that writes his
life, is I perceive mistrusted by men of judgment, and the
author, with an aiitnt, is made to salve himself. Assuredly
it was a noble nation that could afford an hint to such inven-
tions of patience, and upon whom, if not such verities, at
least such verisimilities of fortitude were placed. AYerethe
story true, they would have made the only disciples for
Zeno and the Stoicks, and might perhaps have been per-
suaded to laugh in Phalaris his bull.

11. If any man shall content his belief with the speech of
Balaam's ass, without a belief of that of Mahomet's camel,
or Livy's ox ; if any man makes a doubt of Giges' ring in
Justinus, or conceives he must be a Jew that believes the
sabbatical river^ in Josephus ; if any man will say he dotli

'' 9.] First added in the 6th edition.

* tJie sabbatical rive?:] A singular discrepancy exists on this point
between the statement of Josephus and that of Phny. Tlie former
(Dc Bell. Jud. lib. vii. c. 24) saying that the river flows on sabbath, but
rests on every other day : — while Pliny {Hi><t. Nat. xxxi. § 13) relates
that it flows most impetuously all the week, but is dry on the sabbath.
All the Jewish rabbinical authorities adopt the latter as the fact, in
opposition to Josephus, whose account is so singular, that several of his
commentators have not hesitated to suppose a transposition to have

282 TEE SPAETAK BOYS. [BOOK Til.

not apprebend Iiotv tlie tail of an African wetlier out-'^eigh-
etli the body of a good calf, that is, an hundred pounds,
according unto Leo Africanus,'-' or desii-es, before belief, to
behold such a creature as is the ruck^ in Paulus Venetus, —
for my part I shall not be angry with his incredulity.

12. If any one shall receive, as stretched or fabulous ac-
counts, what is delivered of Codes, Scaevola, and Curtius,
the sphere of Archimedes, the story of the Amazons, the
taking of the city of Babylon, not known to some therein in
three days after, that the nation was deaf which dwelt at the
fall of Nilus, the laughing and weeping humour of Heracli-
tus and Democritus, with many more, he shall not want
some reason and the authority of Lancelotti.*

13. If any man doubt of the strange antiquities delivered
by historians, as of the wonderful corpse of Antasus untombed

* Farfalloni Ilistorici.

occuiTed in his text, producing the error in quesstion. Our poetical
Walton alludes to this marvellous river, but he has adopted the proposed
correction, citing Josephus as his authority, but giving the Plinian ver-
sion of the story, doubtless thinking it most fit that the river should
allov? the angler to repose on Sunday, and afford him, during the six
other days, " choice recreation." Tlie classical authorities declare that
the river has long since vanished. But recently, a learned Jew, Eabbi
Edrehi, has announced a work, asserting the discovery of the lost river,
but affirming it to be a i-iver of sand / This is apt to recal to mind an
old proverb about " twisting a »'ope of sand ! "

As for the " marvellous " of the story, it strikes me, that — only grant
the existence of ivater-corn-mills in the time of the Emperor Titus
(which it is not for me to deny),— and the whole is perfectly intelligible.
The mills had been at work during the week, keeping up a head of
water which had rushed along with a velocity (as Josephus describes it)
sufficient to caiTy with it stones and fragments of rocks. On sabbath-
day the miller "shut down," and let all the water run throiigh, by
which means the river was laid almost dry. What should hinder, in
these days of hypothesis, our adopting so ready and satisfactory a
solution ?

^ Leo AfHcaniis.'] What weights Leo Afrieanus meanes is doubtfull.
Some have been brought hither, that being fatted, coulde scarcely carye
their tayles : though I know not, why nature, that hung such a weight
oehinde, shoulde not enable the creature to drag itt after iiim by the
strength of his backe, as the stag to carye as great weight on his heade
only. — Wr.

' ruch.'\ Surely the rue was but one, like the phoenix, but revives
not like the phoenix. — Wr.

The roc of the Arabian Nights, conjectured to have originated in the
American condor.

CHAP. XVIII.] THE SPAETAK BOTS. 283

a tliousand years after liis death by Sertorius ; whether there
were no deceit in those fragments of the ark, so common to
be seen in the days of Berosus ; whether the pillar which
Josephus beheld long ago, Tertullian long after, and Bar-
tholomeus de Saligniaco and Bochardus long since, be the
same with that of Lot's wife ; whether this were the hand of
Paul, or that which is commonly shown the head of Peter ;
if any doubt, I shall not much dispute with their suspicions.
If any man shall not believe the turpentine-tree betwixt
Jerusalem and Bethlehem, under which the Virgin suckled
our Saviour as she passed between those cities ; or the tig-
tree of Bethany, showed to this day, whereon Zaccheus as-
cended to behold our Saviour ; I cannot tell how to enforce
his belief, nor do I think it requisite to attempt it. Por, as
it is no reasonable proceeding to compel a religion, or think
to enforce our own belief upon another, who cannot without
the concurrence of God's Spirit have any undubitable evidence
of things that are obtruded, so is it also in matters of com-
mon belief ; whereunto neither can we indubitably assent,
without tlie co-operation of our sense or reason, wherein
consist the principles of persuasion. Por, as the habit of
faith in divinity is an argument of things unseen, and a stable
assent unto things inevident, upon authority of the Divine
Revealer, — so the belief of man, which depends upon
human testimony, is but a staggering assent unto the
affirmative, not without some fear of the negative. And as
there is required the Word of God, or infused inclination
unto the one, so must the actual sensation of our senses,-
at least the non-opposition of our reasons, procure our
assent and acquiescence in the other. So when Eusebius,
an holy writer, affirmeth, there grew a strange and iinknown
plant near the statue of Christ, erected by his hsemor-
rhoidal patient in the gospel, which attaining unto the hem
of his vesture, acquired a sudden faculty to cure all dis-
eases ; although,^ he saith, he saw the statue in his days,

^ senses.] And that this was not -wanting to make good the storyc in
parte, is evident in the very next section. — Wr.

^ although, cOc] Why may wee not beleave that there was such a
plant at the foote of that statue upon the report of the ecclesiastick
story, puhlislit in the third ecumenical council at Ephesus, as wel as the
statue itselfe upon the report of Eusebius at the first ecumenical coun-

28i SOME RELATIONS WHOSE TRUTH WE FEAR. [uOOK Vll

yet hath it not found in many men so much as hiunau
belief. Some believing, others opinioniug, a third suspect-
ing it might be otlierwise. For indeed, in matters of belief,
the understanding assenting unto the relation, either for
the authority of the person, or the probability of the
object, although there may be a confidence of the one, yet
if there be not a satisfaction in the other, there will arise
suspensions ; nor can we properly believe mitil some argu-
ment of reason, or of our proper sense, convince or deter-
mine our dubitations.

And thus it is also in matters of certain and experi-
mented truth. For if unto one that never heard thereof,
a man should undertake to persuade the affections of the
loadstone, or that jet and amber attract straws and light
bodies, there would be little rhetorick in the authority of
Aristotle, Pliny, or any other. Thus although it be true
that the string of a lute or viol will stir upon the stroke of
an unison or diapason in another of the same kind ; that
alcanna being green, will suddenly infect the nails and
other parts with a durable red ; that a candle out of a
musket will pierce through an inch board, or an urinal force
a nail through a plank ; yet can few or none believe thus
much without a visible experiment. Which notwithstand-
ing falls out more happily for knowledge ; for these relations
leaving unsatisfaction in the hearers, do stir up ingenuous
dubiosities unto experiment, and by an exploration of all,
prevent delusion in any.

CHAPTER XIX.

Of some Relations whose truth we fear.

Lastly, as there are many relations whei'eto we cannot
assent, and make some doubt thereof, so there are divers

oil at Nice ; who sayes he saw the statue, but repeates the storye of
the plant out of Afrlcanus, who lived within the 200th yeare of Christ :
and out of TertuUian, who lived within 120 yeai-es after this miracle
was wrought upon the hsemorroidall that erected the statue. For thoutjb
the plant lived not till his time, yet ift was as fresh in memorye in th?
church as when it first grewe. — Wr.

CHAP. XIX.] SOME helations whose truth we eeae. 285

other3 whose verities we fear, and heartily wish there were
no truth therein.

1. It is an insufferable affront unto filial piety, and a
deep discouragement unto the exj^ectation of all aged pa-
rents, who shall but read tlie story of that barbarous queen,
who, after she had beheld her royal parent's ruin, lay yet
in the arms of his assassin, and caroused with him in the
skull of her father. For my part, 1 should have doubted
the operation of antimony, where such a potion would
not work ; 'twas an act, methinks, beyond anthropophagy,
and a cup fit to be served up only at the table of Atreus.^

■• barbarous qiieen, die] If this relates to the story of Alboin, it is
not correctly noticed. I give it frouii Lardner's Cydopcedia. — Etirope
during the Middle Ages.

" Few dynasties have been so unfortuna,te as that of the Lombards.
Alboin, its founder, had not wielded the sceptre four years, when he
became the victim of domestic treason : the manner is worth relating,
as characteristic of the peojile. During his residence in Pannonia, this
valiant chief had overcome and slain Cunimond, king of the Gepidae,
whose skuU, in conformity with a barbarous custom of his nation, he
had fashioned into a drinking cup. Though he had married Rosamond,
daughter of Cunimond, in his festive entertainments he was by no
means disposed to forego the triumph of displaying the trophy. In one
held at Verona, he had the inhumanity to invite his consort to drink to
her lather, while he displayed the cup, and, for the first time, revealed
its history in her presence. His vanity cost him dear : if she concealed
her abhorrence, it settled into a deadly feeling. By the counsel of Hel-
mich, a confidential officer of the court, she opened her heart to Pere-
deo, one of the bravest captains of the Lombards ; and when she could
not persuade him to assassinate his prince, she had recourse to an expe-
dient, which proves, that in hatred as in love, woman krjows no measure.
Personating a mistress of Peredeo, she silently and in darkness stole to
his l)ed ; and when her purpose was gained, she threatened him with
the vengeance of an injured husband, unless he consented to become a
regicide. Tlie option wg,s soon made : accompanied by Helmich, Pe-
redeo was led to the couch of the sleeping king, whose arms had been
previously removed ; and, after a short struggle, the deed of blood was
consummated. The justice of heaven never slumbers : if Alboin was
thus severely punished for his inhumanity, fate avenged him of his
murderers. To escape the suspicious enmity of the L(jmbards, the
queen and Helmicli fled to Ravenna, which at this period depended on
the Greek empire. There the exarch, coveting the treasures which she
had brought from Verona, offered her his hand, on condition she
removed her companion. Such a woman was not likely to hesitate.
To gratify one passion she had planned a deed of blood — to gratify
another, her ambition, she presented a poisoned cup to her lover.

28G SOME RELATIONS WHOSE TEUTII WE FEAE. [bOOK VIL

2. "While we laugh at the story of Pygmalion, and
receive as a fable that he fell in love with a statue ; we can-
not but fear it may be true, what is delivered by Herodotus
concerning the Egyptian poUinctors, or such as anointed
the dead ; that some thereof were fomid in the act of
carnality with them. Prom wits that say 'tis more than
incontiuency for Hylas to sport with Hecuba, and youth to
flame in the frozen embraces of age, we require a name for
this : wherein Petronius or Martial cannot relieve us.
The tyranny of Mezentius* did never equal the vitiosity of
this incubus, that could embrace corruption, and make a
mistress of the grave ; that could not resist the dead pro-
vocations of beauty,^ whose quick invitements scarce excuse
submission. Surely, if such depravities there be yet alive,
deformity need not despair ; nor will the eldest hopes be
ever superannuated, since death hath spurs, and carcasses
have been courted.

3. I am heartily sorry, and wish it were not true, what
to the dishonour of Christianity is afiBrmed of the Italian ;
who after he had inveigled his enemy to disclaim his faith
for the redemption of his life, did presently poiuiard him,
to prevent repentance, and assure his eternal death.
The villany of this Christian exceeded the persecution of
heathens, whose malice was never so longimanousf as to
reach the soul of their enemies, or to extend unto an exile
of their elysiums. And though the blindness of some
ferities have savaged on the bodies of the dead, and been
so injurious vmto worms, as to disinter the bodies of the
deceased, yet had they therein no design upon the soul ;
and have been so far from the destruction of that, or de-
sires of a perpetual death, that for the satisfaction of their
revenge they wish them many souls, and were it in their
power would have reduced them unto life again. It is a
great depravity in our natures, and surely an aftection that
somewhat savoureth of hell, to desire the society, or comfort

* Who tied dead and living bodies together. f Long-handed.

in the bath. After drinking a portion, his suspicions were kindled,
and he forced her, under the raised sword, to drink the rest. The
same hour ended their guilt and lives. Peredeo, the third culprit, fled
to Constantinople, where a fate no less tragical awaited him."

^ dead provocations ofbeauti/.] Provocations of dead beauty, — Wr.

CHAP. XIX.] SOME DELATIONS WHOSE TEUTH WE PEAK. 2S7

ourselves in the fellowship of others that suffer with us;
but to procure the miseries of others in those extremities,
wherein we hold an hope to have no society ourselves, is
methiuks a strain above Lucifer, aud a project bejoud the
primary seduction of hell.

4. 1 hope it is not true, and some indeed have probably
denied, what is recorded of the monk that poisoned
Hemy the emperor, in a di'aught of the holy Eucharist.
'Twas a scandalous wound unto the Christian religion, and
I hope all Pagans will forgive it, when they shall read that
a Christian was poisoned in a cup of Christ, and received his
bane in a draught of his salvation.^ Had he believed
trausubstantiation, he would have doubted the effect ; and
surely the sin itself received an aggravation in that opinion.
It much commendeth the innocency of our forefathers, and
the simplicity of those times, whose laws coidd never
dream so liigh a crime as parricide : whereas this at tlie least
may seem to out-reach that fact, and to exceed the regular
distinctions of murder. I will not say what sin it was to
act it ; yet may it seem a kind of martyrdom to suffer by it.-
For, although unknowingly, he died for Christ his sake,
and lost his life in the ordained testimony of his death.
Certainly had they known it, some noble zeals would
scarcely have refused it ; rather adventuring their own
death, than refusing the memorial of his.''

Many other accounts like these we meet sometimes in
history, scandalous unto Christianity, and even unto huDia-
nity ; whose verities not only, but whose relations, honest
minds do deprecate. For of sins heteroclital, and such as
want either name or precedent, there is oft-times a sin even
in their histories, We desire no records of such enor-

* 'Twas a scandalous wound, t£-c.] It is said that Ganganelli, Pope
Clement XIV. was thus despatched by the Jesuits. In the Universal
Alayazinc ior 177(y, vol. v. p. 215, occurs an account of that poisoning
of the saciamental wine at Zurich, by a grave-digger, by which a num-
ber of communicants lost their lives.

'' Than refusing, (t-c] Itt had been a very foolislie zeale, and little
less than selfe murder to have taken that sacramentall, wherin they
had knowne poyson to have been put. The rejection of that particular
cup had not been any refusal of remembring his death. This therefore
needs an index expurg: .torius, and a deleatur, and soe wee hava
according canceld itt. — Tr.

288 SOME EELATIONS WHOSE TRUTH WE EEAE. [bOOK TII.

mities ; sins should be accounted new, that so they may be
esteemed monstrous. They amit of monstrosity as they
fall from their rarity ; for men count it venial to err with
their forefathers, and foolishly conceive they divide a sin in
its society. The pens of men may sufficiently expatiate
without these singularities of villany ; for, as they increase
the hatred of vice in some, so do they enlarge the theory of
wickedness in all. And this is one thing that may make
latter ages worse than were the former ; for, the vicious
examples of ages past poison the curiosity of these present,
aftbrding a hint*^ of sin unto seducible spirits, and solicit-
ing tliose unto the imitation of them, whose heads were
never so perversely principled as to invent them. In this
kind we commend the wisdom and goodness of GTalen, who
would not leave unto tlie world too subtle a theory of
poisons ; imarming thereby the malice of venomous spirits,
whose ignorance must be contented with sublimate and
arsenic. For, sm'ely there are subtler venerations, such as
will invisibly destroy, and like the basilisks of heaven.
In things of this nature silence commendeth history : 'tis
the veniable part of things lost ; wherein there must never
rise a Pancii'ollus,* nor remain any register, but that of
heU.

And yet, if, as some Stoicks opinion, and Seneca himself
disputeth, these unruly affections that make us sin such
prodigies, and even sins themselves be animals, there is a
history of Africa and story of snakes in these. And if the
transanimation of Pythagoras, or method thereof were
true, that the souls of men transmigrated into species
answering their foi'mer natures ; some men must surely
live over many serpents, and cannot escape that very brood,
whose sire Satan entered. And though the objection of
Plato should take place, that bodies subjected unto corrup-
tion must fail at last before the period of all things, and
growing fewer in number must leave some souls apart unto

* A^Tio writ De antiquis deperditis, or of inventions lost. !

* Affording, <f;c.] Itt is noe doubte but that some casuists have much
to answere for that sinn of curiosity, who by proposing some qusestions
to the confitents teach them to knowe some sinns wherof they woulil
never have thousrht. — Wr.

CH.VP. XIX,] SOME EELATIONS WUOSE TEUTH WE FEAIt. 289

themselves, the spirits of many long before that time will
find but naked habitations ; and, meeting no assimilubles
wherein to re-act their natures, must certainly anticipate
such natural desolations.

Primus sapieniice gradus est, falsa intelligere. — Lactant.

SSI> OF PSEUDOBOXIA EPIDEMICi.,

vol. II.

RELIGIO MEDICL

tr 2

EDITOR'S PREFACE

TO RELIGIO MEDICI.

When and where Eeligio Medici was written — Surreptitiously printed
in 16i2 — Two impressions of that edition in the same year — Au-
thorized edition of 1643 — Observations by Sir K. Digby — Ross's Medicus
Mtdicatus — Annotations on the obscure Passages — Supposed author
of the Annotations — Subsequent Editions of Religio Medici — Ti'ans-
lations into Latin, Dutch, French, German, &c. — Present edition —
Imitations and Works with a similar title.

So few particulars have been transmitted to us of the earher
years of Sir Thomas Browne's life, that it is not easy to deter-
mine precisely at what period he composed his Heligio Medici,
or where he resided at the time. Dr. Johnson seems to have
supposed that it vras written in London ; — but internal evidence
exists CO disprove this. Dr. Watson, in his History of Halifax,
mentions that "he was said to have fixed himself, as a physician,
in his juvenile years, in the parish of Halifax, and to have written
his Religio Medici, in 1630, at Shipden-Hall, near Halifax."
This date, however, must be incorrect : — he did not receive his
diploma till 1633, and can scarcely be said to have fixed himself
in any place as a physician, three years before that event. Besides,
the period named is otherwise disposed of in the accounts we have
of his life ; — for some time after he took his degree of master of
arts (June, 1629), lie is said to have resided in Oxfordshire, and
thence to have proceeded on his travels, first in Ireland, with his
father-in-law Sir Thomas Dutton, and afterwards on the conti-
nent, till 1633, when he received his degi'ee of Doctor of physick
at Leyden, just before his return. His residence near Halifax,
then, must be supposed subsequent to his return ; and, as it is
clear from several passages in Religio Medici that it was written,
also, after his travels, we may perhaps safely venture to assign
the same period to both ; — and conclude that he composed this
celebrated treatise,* in the seclusion of Shipden-Hall, as a relaxa-
tion in the intervals of his professional occupation in that neigh-

294 editor's preface.

bourhood, between tlie years 1633 and 1635 ; — after his wander-
inj^s had terminated, and some time before his residence at Nor-
wich commenced.

There seems no suflBcient reason to c[uestion the sincerity of
Browne's declaration, that this piece was composed for his private
exercise and satisfaction, and not intended for pubhcation. Some
years had elapsed smce its completion — and his attention very
probably was aheady occupied in collecting materials for a larger
undertaking — when the appearance, in 1642, of an anonymous
and surreptitious edition of his first work, together with the
notice it attracted from the Earl of Dorset and Sir Kenebn
Digby, determined him to acknowledge and revise it for the
press. Johnson, in his notice of this circumstance, seems to
suspect the author (though he professes to acquit him) of having
contrived the anonymous publication of the work, in order to
try its success with the publick ; obsei-ving (in allusion to the
author's complaint that the " broken and imperfect copy " he
had lent had suffered " by frequent transcription,") that " a long
treatise, however, elegant, is not often copied by mere zeal or
curiosity." No one, however, acquainted with Browne's character
would hesitate to repel this insinuation : — it cannot for a moment
be admitted that he was capable of using such means to obtain
literary fame ; — and certainly, if he had, he would not have
risked his character on an edition so incorrect as to deserve
immediate suppression. In reply to the alleged improbability
of transcription, may be pleaded the fact, that there is ample
proof of the work having been repeatedly transcribed ^oliile in
manuscript : — two complete copies are in my own possession ; —
a third exists in the Bodleian, and part of a fourth in the British
Museum : — none of them transcripts of an existing edition. One
of these [MS. W.), though so nearly approaching the edition
of 1642, as to lead to the belief that they had a common origin,
is clearly not a copy from it : MSS. TV. 2 and R. differ from it
still more widely, but resemble each other sufficiently to be con-
sidered as the descendants of a second original manuscript : the
other {MS. L.) is a fragment, but it is interesting, both as pos-
sessing a date three years earlier than the spurious edition (1639),
and as containing some curious variations from every other
manuscript and edition. I am, therefore, perfectly satisfied that
Sir Thomas Browne had several originals wi'itten by his own
hand, differing from each other. This opinion is confirmed, — by
the information of those who knew him, " that it was his constant
practice to make repeated copies of his compositions," — as well
as by an examination of his remaining manuscripts. There are,
in his common-place books, many pages occaipied by passages,
which, with slight variations, occur in his printed works — espe-

editoe's preface. 295

cially in Hy Iriotapliia, Quincunx, and Christian Morals, — ■
besides several of the Tracts entire, and of the Brampton Urns
two copies, both differing from the printed copy. There is suf-
ficient evidence too, that he was very willing to lend out his
works, in manuscript ; and some of his lesser pieces were even
composed at the request of his friends' and for their use. It is
therefore easily to be supposed that one of those copies of Eeligio
Medici, which he had lent, found its way " without his assent or
privacy," to the press.

Wlien the work had thus unexpectedly made its appearance,
it must have struck the author that his name would in all proba-
bihty be speedily connected with it : — at the same time, its recep-
tion (though under the disadvantage of gross inaccuracy) was so
flattering, that he probably felt little hesitation in determining
to anticipate discovery by avowal, and thus secure to himself the
credit and advantage of the work, together with the power of
giving it such revision as he wished. In doing this, it was
undoubtedly his object, not only to correct the clerical and typo-
graphical errors with which the spurious edition abounded, but
to modify or expunge certain passages not suited to the temper
of the times, or which his more cautious feelings, or altered
opijiious, made him wish to suppress : he was desirous, also, of
making such additions as might justify his having called the
former copy " broken and imperfect." In short, he wished to
supersede, and altogether to disown, that edition, and in all
probability took care to remove every trace of its original ; — for
scarcely a fragment of the work remains amongst the Manu-
scripts he has left. But while the edition of 1643 is to be
regarded as that which he intended for the public eye — I am
persuaded, from comparing the alterations, additions, and omis-
sions it exhibits, with the Manuscripts and surreptitious editions,
that these not only have an equal claim to rank as his compo-
sition, but that they alone must be considered to exhibit the
work as originally composed " for his own private exercise and
satisfaction." In all the manviscript copies are to be found,
without exception, those passages of the surreptitious edition
which have been omitted in that of 1643, but not one of the
numerous additions nor of the most important alterations it con-
tains.— Now, as it has been shown that those manuscript copies
most probably represent three distinct originals, their remark-
able agreement with the surreptitious edition, where it difl'ei-s
from the genuine, strongly favours the opinion that the latter
was not printed from an existing and more perfect manuscript,
but from a copy then first prepared, for the express purpose of
publication. — The former, in short, contains his private solilo-
quies, the latt©; his published opinions.

29G EDITOli's PEEFACE.

lu the mean time, tlie surreptitious edition appears to have
been rapidly sold, and a second impression of it was printed.
Iseitlier of these lias a printed title-page, but both have an
engraved frontispiece, by ]\Iarshall, representing a figure, which
a hand from the clouds has caught by the arm, in the act of
falling from a rock into the sea ; the motto a coelo salus is
engraved by the side of the figure, and Selic/io Meclid below it ;
at the foot of the plate. Printed for Andrew Crooke, 1642.
Will. JIarshaU sou. Both impressions are in very small octavo;
the one has 190 pp., the other 159 pp. ; — the latter has a larger
pa<re of type, but is much more accurately and better printed,
and probably is the later of the two. These impressions are
extremely rare, especially the former, of which my copy is the
onlv one I have seen. In some of the following notes, it is men-
tioned as Ed. 1642, IF.— the other, as Ed. 1642, C.

"WTiethcr the engraved frontispiece had any other origin than
the fancy of Mar.shall the engraver, it is difficult to say, but it
seems to have pleased Browne ; for it appears at the head of his
first, and has accompanied every subsequent, edition. The
author's frontispiece however diSers from the former, in not
having Rcligio Medici in the middle of the design, nor the
engraver's name ; it has at foot the following words : —
A true and full copy of that which was most imperfectly and
surreptitiov^^ly printed before under the name of Religio Medici.
Printed for Andrew Crooke, 1643.

In the same year appeared, Observations upon Peligio Medici,
occasionally tcritten by Sir Kenelome Digby, Knight ; printed in
the same size, and containing 124 pages. A second edition came
out in 1644 ; the third was published, in 1659, with the fifth
edition of Eeligio Medici, to which work it has ever since been
appended, though written with reference to the surreptitious
edition.

In 1645, that remarkable personage, Alexander Eoss, made
an attack on both parties, in his Medicus 3fedicatus : or the
Physician's Seligion cured, by a lenitive or gentle Potion : with
some animadversions upoti Sir Kenelme Highys Observations on,
Religio Medici, pp. 112, very small 8vo. Browne's too great
lenity towards Papists, his too free use of " rhetorical phrase "
in religious subjects, his apparent leaning to judicial astrology
and other heresies, and the far too measured terms in which he
questioned certain opinions which Ross roundly condemns, —
foi'ni the general subject of his remarks ; which, though often
absurd, and sometimes ludicrous, are by no means devoid either
of spirit or shrewdness, — though not remarkable, it must be
confessed, for candour. In his animadversions on Sir Kenelm,
which constitute a third of his book, he chiefly attacks the

editoe's pbeface. 297

metaphysieks of the kniglit and his Catholicism. Some curious
proofs of Ross's belief in certain of the vulgar superstitions
of his day will he found in the notes, at pp. 132 and 133.
The work, however, was not called into a second edition ; nor
did it provoke any other reply from Dr. Browne, than a fresh
edition of his Eeligio Medici, in that year, 1645 ; which differs
from the first only in having the last figui'e of the date altered
in the plate, and the correspondence with Dighy placed before
instead of after the work : — it has 188 pages. It is the second
authorized edition, but should rather be considered the Fourth
edition.

Among the editions of Eeligio Medici enumerated by
Dr. Watt, in his invaluable work, BlhUotheca Bntannica, is one
dated 1648 ; but I have never been able to meet with it, and
am inchned to believe that the work was not reprinted till 1656,
when the "fourth" edition came out. This is the first with
a printed title-page in addition to the frontispiece, which is re-
touched, and has the words " Fourth Editio7i" added. But it
was only the Third of the authorized editions, unless there was
one between 1645 and 1656 ; if there was not, the surreptitious
editions must have been included, but reckoned as one. In the
present enumeration it is called

The Fifth Edition ; is in very small 8vo., and the title-page as
follows : — Religio Medici. The Fourth Edition, corrected and
amended, with Annotations, never hefore published, tipon all the
obscure passages therein. London, 1656 : after 16 pp. of Pre-
faces, &c., and 174 pp. of the work, follows another title-page: —
Annotations upon Religio Medici, Sf'c. then, 175 — 184, The
Annotator to the Header : and the Annotations, pp. 185 — 208.

There seems good reason to suppose that the Annotations
were written by a Mr. Thomas Keck of the Temple. In the
Bodleian there is a copy of the Edition of 1643, which has his
name on the cover, together with this memorandum, " MS.
Notes by Mr. Kech of the Temple." Brief marginal remarks
are scattered through the volume, at many of those passages on
which there are " Annotations," and the same authorities are
referred to. There is also in this volume a very neat manuscript
title, thus : — Seligio Medici. The Second Edition, corrected
and amended, tvith Annotations never before published upon all
the obscure passages therein, hy T. K. London : Printed for
A. CrooJce, 1654 : this agrees exactly, except the initials, with
the title actually printed. He probably wrote his Annotations
in the year 1644, using this very copy ; for he saj^s in the
preface (which bears the same date as the manuscript title),
" that these notes were collected ten years ago." There is also
Btill further coincidence : Mr. Keck was a lawyer ; and the

298 editor's P.IEFACE.

annotator, speaking of his profession, says, " I declare myself
tliat I am causarum actor mediocris." So that, on the whole,
there seems sufficient evidence to leave little reason for hesitation
in announcing him as the author of the Annotations.

The Sixth Edition is the first that was published in conjunc-
tion with the other works. It accompanied the Third Edition
of Pseudodoxia Epidemica, fol. 1659, and is printed in double
columns. It contains neither the Annotations, nor Digby's
Observations, nor the correspondence respecting them. It is
called in the title-page, The Last Edition, corrected and enlarged
by the Aiothor : Printed for the good of the Commonwealth :
and contains 34 pp. with title and preface.

The Seventh Edition. Beligio Medici. The Fifth Edition,
corrected and amended. With Annotations, S{c. Also Observa-
tions by Sir Kenelml>ighy, noto newly added. London, Printed
by Thomas Milbourn for Andreto CrooJc, at the G-reen Dragon
in Pauls Church-yard, 1659 ; — small 8vo. This edition has a
newly engraved frontispiece, date 1660.

The Eighth Edition is dated 1669, and is called the Sixth.
But I have never been fortunate enough to obtain a copy, nor
any other description of it than the following brief note in the
handwriting of its proprietor, since dead : — Beligio Medici —
Wi Edit. lee^. It is in small 8vo.

The Ninth iildition is with Pseudodoxia Epidemica, ^'c. the
Sixth and last Edition, 4to. 1672; and is called The Seventh
Edition.

The Tenth Edition. Beligio Medici. The Seventh Edition,
corrected and amended. With Annotations, Sfc. Also Observa-
tions, 4'c. London, 1678, small 8vo.

The Eleventh Edition is precisely a reprint of the Tenth —
except that it is called The Eighth Edition, and dated 1682.
My copy wants the frontispiece. This was probably the last
edition pubhshed during the author's life. He died towards the
close of the same year.

The Twelfth Edition forms part of the collective edition of
the Works, edited by Archbishop Tenison, fol. 1686. It is sin-
gular that he should have taken so little pains to ascertain how
many editions had actuallv appeared, as to allow this to be called
The Eighth Edition. It is dated 1685.

The Thirteenth Edition is called A Neto Edition, corrected
and amended, with Notes and Annotations, never before pub-
lished, upon all the obscure passages therein. To which is added,
The Life of the Author. Also Sir Kenclm Diglys Observations,
London, 1736. 12mo. It has a newly engraved and much larger
frontispiece. This is the first edition with a Table of Contents.
A new title-page was in 1738 attached to the unsold copies Oi

SDITOr's PltEFACE. 299

this edition, in wliich it is called the Eleventh Edition. This
title-pa<;e has a table of contents in double column.

The Fourteenth Edition was published in the same year as
the preceding, 1736, in 8vo., but without notes. I have never
seen it.

The foreign editions may next be mentioned. — The edition of

1643 was translated into Latin by John Merryweather, and
printed at Leyden, in 1644, by Hackius, who published a second
edition of it in 1650 : — the former I have never seen ; the latter
is a very neatly printed volume, in very small 12mo. 240 pp.
with engraved title only, representing the same figure as the
English editions, and at foot, Lugcl. Batavorum, apud Fran.
Sackium. Ao. 1650 : — the last two figures altered. The trans-
lator visited Norwich for the purpose of seeing the author, and
presenting him a copy of this second edition, — as will be seen by
a reference to his life.

This translation was reprinted, at Paris, with only the usual
frontispiece-title, Relifiio 3fedici. JiLrtaExempl.Liig . Batavorum,

1644 : — same size, — 178 pp. — In this reprint, the author's and
translator's prefaces are omitted, and one substituted, in which
great anxiety is shown, not only to vindicate tli 3 author from
the charges of impiety, scepticism, and even atheism, with which
he had been assailed, but to prove, from several passages of his
work, that he did not even deserve the character of a heretic : —
that he was a member of the Church of England from dire
necessity alone, but in heart a Roman Catholic : — " ad sectam
Anglicanam per vim malignam nativitatis aut fortuna prceter
voluntatem advectum." It is remarkable that the French verses,
in § IV. Part 2, are omitted, and a blank is left in the middle
of the page. — Our copy of this rare little volume has been
" Ex lihris Monast. Juliani Twronens." But, notwithstanding
the arguments of the preface, we find the fatal epithet " hcere-
ticus," written at the foot of the engraved title.

In 1652 appeared, at Strasburg, an edition of Merryweather's
translation, in small 8vo., 494 pp., in which the text is abso-
lutely buried beneath a mass of Latin notes, by a Gorman
named Levinus Nicolas Moltkenius (Levin Nicol von Moltke).
In this edition the Parisian preface is inserted, in order to show
that, even by Roman Catholics, the author was acquitted of
those gross errors of opinion with which some had charged him.
The author rejoices that he was not " Ftoritanismo addictus,
aut turpitudine independentiuni errorum foidatus :" and excuses
his various speculations, on account of the modesty with which
he advances them. The edition was reprinted in 1665 and
1677.

In 1665 a Dutch translation was printed at Leyden, in very

300 editor's preface.

small 12mo., containing- 365 pages, and 14 of title, prelate, &c.
It has a spirited copy of the usual cut. This translation, toge-
ther with its notes, was translated into French, and published
in 1668, in same size, without name of place. M. du Petit
Thouars, in the Biographie UniverseUe, attributes the French
version to Nicholas Lefebvre, and says it was printed at La
Haye. Who was the Dutch translator may be questioned.
Several continental bibliographers call him Johan Griindahl ;
but there occurs a note, evidently by the translator, signed J. E.
In his preface he mentions having met Sii* Thomas Browne at
Vorburg, at the house of a friend, and having then been recom-
mended by the author to read his work. Of this visit to the
continent, which must have taken place during his residence at
Korwich, we have no other intimation than is conveyed in this
slight notice. The preface also promises a second and enlarged
edition comprising Digby's Observations, which accordingly
made its appearance at Leyden in 1683, with additional notes,
and in the same size, but containing above 500 pages.

In 1746 a German translation of the Eeligio Medici, with a
Life of the Author, was printed at Prenzlau. This may pro-
bably be that attributed, by Jocher, to George Veuztky.

An Italian translation is said to exist, but I have not been able
to ascertain the fact.

Besides these separate translations of Eeligio Medici, it must
be supposed to have been included in a Dutch edition of his
Works, translated by John Grundal (Griindahl), at Amsterdam,
1668 — and in a German edition of them, by Christian Knorr,
Baron of Eosenroth (calling himself Christian Peganius), in 4to.
Leips. 1680, which are announced by some bibhographers, but
neither of which I have succeeded in obtaining.

It now only remains to sketch the plan on which the present
has been edited. The text is that of 1643, compared, and in
some instances corrected, by others, especially Abp. Tenison's :
occasionally a reading has been adopted from one of the MSS.,
but always inclosed in brackets and explained in a note. The
few side-notes which occur in the original, are placed at the foot
of the page, in long hues : together with here and there one
from the margin of the manuscripts. The variations between
the manuscripts and the editions of 1642 and 1643 are given.
The notes consist of a selection from those of former editors,
some of my own, and a few supphed by the kindness of friends :
to each is added an indication of its proper author.

As the Observations by Sir Kenelm Digby have accompanied
all the former editions of the work, since 1659. they are added,
with the correspondence respecting them. The reply of the
author to Dr. Browne has been collated with an original in the

editoe's preface. 301

Bodleian, and some variations noticed. A valuable corre*
spondent, James Crossley, Esq., of Manchester, has pointed
out to me tliat Morhof translated Digby's Observations into
Latin, and illustrated them with notes : but never published
them.

The continental celebrity of this work was greatly promoted
by Merryweather's Latin translation of it. The foreign literati
almost immediately began their remarks upon it. Guy Patin is
one of the earliest : in a letter dated Paris, April 7th, 1645, he
thus gives his opinion of it : — " Parlons d'autre chose. On fait
icy grand etat du livre intitule Religio Medici. Get Auteur a
de I'esprit. II y a de gentilles choses dans ce livre. C'est un
melancolique agreable en ses pensces ; mais qui a mon jugement
cherche maitre en fait de religion, comme beaucoup d'autres,
et peut-etre qu'enfin il n'en trouvera avicun. II faut dire de
liry ce que Philippe de Comines a dit du fondateur des Minimes,
rSermite de Calabre, FranQois de Paule, II est encore en vie, il
peut aussi bien enipirer qu'amander. La plupart des livres que
vous m'indiques de la foire de Prancfort ne sont pas nouveaux.
J'en ay plusieurs chez moi."'

Several of the German critics most unceremoniously (and with
about as much sagacity as candour) pronounced the author an
athe ist. Yet are there not wanting German authorities of an
opposite opinion : " Herman Conringius was wont to say, that
he always read Beligio 3Iedici with fresk delight ; and in respect
to that imputation of atheism, or indifFerency in religion, which
had been circulated with such industry by certain superciliou.s
critics, he exclaims: 'TJtinam nemo Medicorum, imo Theologo-
rum, illo homine sit minus religiosus!' " — Conringiana, p. 10.
Frederick Heister, son of the celebrated Laurentius Heister,
thought himself obliged, on Buddeus's publishing his Theses, to
vindicate the physicians in general, and our author in particular,
from the injurious aspersions cast upon them in that work.*

It is not wonderful to find, that at Rome Religio Medici was
placed in the Index Exjyurgatoriits, as a prohibited book ; — for
certainly it is the work of a protestant, though of one remark-
able for his charity towards others, whether papist or puritan : — ■

• Lettres de Guy Patin, 12mo. Frankf. 1683, p. 12. See also Bayle,
(Euvres Diverses, 3 vols, fol., vol. i. p. 25 : — Father Niceron, Memoires,
cfcc, torn, xxxiii. p. 353 : — A eta Eriulitorum, Sup. vol. i. Lcips. 1 692.

- See, for example, Reimmanni Hift. Atheismi, p. 446, 448. — Tobias
Wagner, Exam. Elenchtic. Atheismi Speeulativi, c. v. p. 11. — Muller,
Examen Atheismi, c. vi. § 34. Reiser, in Dissertatione de Atheism/),
p. 35. Johan. Franc. Buddeus, Theses de Atheismo et Swperstitionej
{». 136, or, Traitede I'Atheisme, &c. 8vo. Amst. 1740, p. 88.

' Hee hia Apologia pro M edicts : § 19. Amstel. 1736, bvo.

302 editor's PKEfACE.

but it does indeed excite contempt as well as indignation, to
know that a work whose " every page displays the fervour of
his piety, and the docility of his belief," should have induced
any man to rank its author among infidels and atheists. Let it
pass however; the present object is to edit the work, not to
offer either eulogy or criticism ; those, who do not perceive that
it contains its own vindication, are referred to the eloquent and
conclusive observations of his great admirer and biographer,
Dr. Johnson.

To some readers it may not be unacceptable to notice such
works, as have appeared similar in title to Religio Medici, and
in some instances avowedly imitations of it. This preface shall
therefore conclude with the following list of them.

The first to be noticed is Lord Herbert's treatise,

De Heligione Laid, first published in 1645, at London, with
the third edition of his De Veritate. — It was intended to show,
that the people can never attain to any satisfaction, as to the
truth and certainty of any particular religion, and had better
therefore be content with that which his lordship had marked
out for them, in his last-mentioned work. His

De Religione Gejitilium was published after his death, in
1663, 4to. It was written to prove that his five leading prin-
ciples of Natural Religion were inscribed by the Almighty, as
common notices on the minds of all men, and had been acknow-
ledged universally in all nations, ages, and religions. It was
reprinted several times, and published in English, in 1705.

Religio Jurisconsidti : London, 1649. — Tliis curious little
book is No. 453 of the 12mo. Tracts, in the Koyal Collection of
Pamphlets in the Museum, in volume 252. The day of its pub-
lication is marked as usual by the collector's hand, "Nou.° 9"
on the title-page. A 2 contains his address " To the Eeaders."
A 3 a curious dedication, and summary of subjects, together
with some Latin mottoes. The work then follows m 69 pages,
with " Sic cogitavit J. Botrie" subscribed, and half a page of
" Errata." W. H. B.

Medici CathoUcon, London, 1657, 12mo. — A curious little
Book, ■RTitten evidently in imitation of Browne. J. C.

Religio Philosophi Peripatetici disciitienda, authore P. F.
Francisco Davenporto, vulgo, a Sancta Clara. Duaci, Anno 1662,
8vo. 162 pp. beside Indexes. — This tract was written on occasion
of a miracle performed by the Virgin Mary in the year 1640.
A man's leg had been amputated, and his friends, as well as
himself, were one morning exceedingly surprised to find it had

editor's pbeface. 303

been restored to liim, and that lie Lad two legs instead of one.
The book is written to show, that this could not have happened
by natural means, and that neither astrology, nor chemistry,
nor melancholy, nor witchcraft, nor imagination, nor the Devil
himself, could do such a thing as thi& : — ergo, concluditui- esse
miraculum. It is a curious book, full of digressions, and odd
stories. J. C. — The author, Christopher Davenport, alias Francis
a S. Clara, alias Francis Hunt, alias Francis of Coventry (for by
all these names he was known), was descended from an ancient
Cheshire family, and born at Coventry, at the close of the 16th
century. After spending some time at Merton College, Oxford, he
passed into the communion of the Church of Rome, and entered
the order of the Franciscans at Ypres. Afterwards he returned
to England, as a Missionary, and was made one of the Chaplains
of Henrietta the Queen of Charles the First, During the protec-
torate, M. de S. Clara absconded ; but returned after the resto-
ration, and became theologist to Cathcrina of Portugal, consort
of Charles the Second. The greater part of his works were
printed at his own expense, in 2 vols. fol. at Doway, an. 1665.

The Reliriion of a Fliysician : or. Divine Meditations on the
Grand and Lesser Festivals, by Edmund G-ayton, or De Speciosa
Villa. Lond. 1663. 4to. Watt.

Jteligio Stoici, with a friendly addresse to the Phanaticks of
all Sects and Sorts. Edenburgh, 1665, very small 8vo. pp. 144,
and 24 of prefaces, &c. — This quaint, but spirited little work,
•was written by Sir George Mackenzie. It was afterwards
reprinted amongst his Essays on several Moral Subjects.
Its object may best be described in the author's own words.
See p. 141. " My design, all alongst this Discourse, butts at this
one principle, that Speculations in Religion are not so necessary,
and are more dangerous than sincere practice. It is in
Keligion as in Heraldry, the simpler the bearing be, it is so
much the purer and the ancienter." It was also published in
London under the following title :

" The Religious Stoic ; or, a Short Discourse on Atheism,
Superstition, the World's Creation, Eternity, Providence, &c.&c.
by Sir G.M. Lond. 1685."

Religio Clerici, 1681, 12mo. pp. 231, with a frontispiece, by
Van Hove, of Christ saving Peter from drowning. — The intent
of this work, which is written by a Clergyman, is to defend the
estabhshed religion against the Eomanists and Schismatics — to
show "that we never shall have peaceable days, as long as
bulkers and coblcrs are preacliera, and couranters." J. M.

Religio Laici ; or, A Layman's Faith. An Epistle, by John
Drydeu, 8vo. Lond. 1682. — A second edition was published, in
1683, which is very rare. In the same year appeared

301 editoe's preface.

Beligio Laid, by Charles Blount, Esq., son of Sir Henry
Blount of Stafibrdshire. — He has inscribed it to his " much-
honoured friend, John Dryden, Esquire," to whom he says, in
the Epistle-dedicatory, " I have endeavoured that my discourse
should be only a continuance of yours ; and that, as you taught
men how to beheve, so I might instruct them how to live."
Leland, however, says that this work is " little more than a
translation of Lord Herbert's treatise of the same name.
The additions and improvements he has made are so few, and
of such small moment, as not to deserve a distinct considera-
tion." Dryden's change of f^iith, after his publication o? Beligio
Laid, called forth an attack in the following pamphlet, in which
his title is turned against him.

Religio Laid, or a Layman's Faith touching the supreme
and infallible guide of the cliurcli, by J. !R., a convert of
Mr. Bayes. In two letters to a friend in the country. Licensed
June 1, 1688. — It is said to be replete with the grossest inso-
lence, brutality, and ignorance.

Reliijio Jurisprudentis : Or the Lawyer's Advice to his Son.
In Counsels, Essays, and other Miscellanies. Calculated chiefly
to prevent the miscarriages of youth, and for the ortliodox esta-
blishment of their morals in years of maturity. Per Philan-
thropum. Lond. 1685. W. H. B. — This is an anonymous
treatise, but has a portrait of the author, with his coat of arms,
which are those of the Hildesley family. The author was, as
I have been told, Mark Hildesley, mentioned in an epitaph
which is to be foimd in Butler's Life of Bishop Hildesley.
T. R.

Religio Militis : or The Moral Duty of a Soldier, showing
how he ought to behave himself towards God, his King, and
country. London, 1690. W. H. B. — This seems to have been
republished in 1695, 4to., and is said by my friend Mr. Crossley
to have been written by Morgan.

The Layman s Religion: humbly offered as a Help to a
Modest Enquiry for every Man into his own Heart ; both as
being the only means to judge and save himself, and the best
way to unite us aU against our Common Enemies. The Second
Edition, London, 1690.— 38 pp. iu small 4to. W. H. B.

The Second Part of the Layman's Religion : as an Appendix
to the First. The Second Edition, Loudon, 1690.—" To the
Reader," 2 pp. and 15 pp. besides, small 4to. W. IE. B.

Religio BihUopolcB, by Benjamin Bridgewater, Gent., 1694,
12mo. — Of Mr. Benjamin Bridgewater, who was one of Dunton's
hacks, Dunton thus speaketh in that strange rhapsody, his Life
and Errors, p. 177. •' He was of Trinity College, Cambridge,
and M.A. His genius was very rich, and ran much upon poetry

editoe's peeface. 305

in which he excelled. He was in part author of Eeligio Eiblio-
pol£e. But alas ! wine and love were the ruin of this ingenious
gentleman." Dunton, in 1704, enlarged and published the work
under the following title :

Seligio Bihliopolce : The New Practice of Piety, writ in
imitation of Dr. Browne's Religio Medici ; or the Christian
Virtuoso, discovering the right way to Heaven between all
Extreams. To which is added, a Satyr on the House of Lords, for
their throwing out the Bill against occasional Conformity, 1704,
12mo. 70 pp., besides Dedication and Preface. — There are
several additions ; — a long rambling Dedication, and a preface
and mtroduction and conclusion, all evidently by Dunton, and
which are none of them in the former, nor in the reprints of it,
in 1728 and 1750, 8vo. The Dedication is to Mr. Locke, author
of the Essay upon Human Understanding. The oddest part of
the story, about this book, is, that it is nothing else but an
entire piece of patchwork from the beginning to the end. In a
copy of mine, I once took the pains of restoring by references
one half of the book to its proper owners. Whether it was the
ingenious Mr. Benjamin Bridgewater, or the ingenious Mr. John
Dunton, who was guilty of these literary larcenies, I know not,
but certainly a more extraordinary and flagrant case I never in
the course of my reading met with. Glanville is the plaintiff in
several instances, so is Howell, and Norris, and Boyle. J. C. —
Another edition appeared in 1705, 12mo. with a portrait of
Dunton prefixed. And in 1728, a reprint in 8vo. of the former
work, first published in 1694, 12mo. — its title runs thus : —
" Religio Tjihliopolce : or the Religion of a Bookseller : which
is likewise not improper to be perused by those of any other
calling or profession. Lond. 1728," 8vo. ill pp. besides 8 pp.
of title, preface, &c. This was again reprinted in 1750.

lEvangelium Medici, a Bernardo Conner, Lond. 1697, 8vo. —
A work of very curious speculation ; though not properly an
imitation of Religio Medici. The most extraordinary part is
that in which he considers the resurrection, and how it is to be
accomplislied ; he goes through the different parts of the body,
and decides which will and which will not find a place in our
bodies when gloi'ified. He has gone more minutely into this
than Henry More, or Burnet of the Charter-House. J. C.

The Bdigion of a Prince ; showing that the precepts of the
Holy Scriptures are the best Maxims of Government, by
William Nichols, D.D. London, 1704, 8vo. — Against Machiavel,
Hobbes, &c. Watt.

A Gentleman s Eeligion : in Three Parts. — The first contains
the Principles of Natural Religion. The second and tliird tha
Doctrines of Christianity, both as to Faith and Practice.

VOL. II, X

306 editor's peeface.

With an Appendix, wlierein it is proved, that nothing contrary
to oiu' reason can possibly be the object of our belief: but that
it is no just exception against some of the doctrines of Chris-
tianity, that they are above our reason. The Fourth Edition.
London, 1710, pp. 301. — Communicated by an ingenious and
reverend friend, who adds, " This is a volume of small pieces,
constituting the 5th volume of A»i-chbishop Synge's Works,
small 8vo." TF. S. J3. — The first edition was published, anony-
mously, at London, 1698, and the last edition at the Clarendon
press, Oxford, in 1800, with the name of the author, " The most
reverend Edward Synge, D.D., Archbishop of Tuam."

Seliffio Libertini, 8vo. 1715. — By Berridge. J. C.

The Religion of the Wits at Button's refuted, &c. In a dia-
logue between a Politician and a Divine. Lond. 1716, small Svo.
72 pp. An attack on some of the infidel Wits of the day.

Lady's Religion : in two parts, London, 1748, Svo. Watt. —
The same, in 12mo. without date. T. R.

Religio Philosophi : or, the Principles of Morality and
Christianity illustrated from a View of the Universe, and of
Man's Situation in it. By William Hay, Esq. The Fourth
Edition, London : 1771. — 232 pp. besides the first hiilf sheet.
Of this excellent work, the author says, in a short preface, that
" his great end is, by rectifying men's ideas, and by removing
vulgar prejudices, to fix religion on a firm basis." In the ele-
gant edition of his Works (2 vol. 4to. 1794), this Essay occu-
pies pp. 171 — 300 of the 1st vol. I fijid that the first edition
was in 1753 ; the second in 1754 ; and the third may have been
that mentioned by Watt, in 1760. I know not whether the
reprint in his Works was the last or not. W. H. B.

Religio Laid : Second Edition, Lond. 1768, Svo. 98 pp. —
No author's name, but written by Stephen Tempest, Esq., of
Bracewell in Craven, Yorkshire. The very sensible tract of a
very sensible country gentleman. Vid. Whittaker's History of
Craven, p. 88, who praises it, but not more than it deserves.
J. C. — It obtained a new title-page in 1772, calling it, " Third
edition."

Fragmentum Isaaci Hawkins Browne, Arm. Sive anti-Boling-
brokius ; Liber primus, translated for a Second Religio Medici,
by Sir Wm. Browne, late President, now father of the College
of Physicians, and F. E. S., 1768, 4to. Fragmentum Isaaci
Browne completum, 1769,4to. — Hutchinson sLiiographiaMedica,
1799, vol. i. p. 163. E. H. B.

The Religion of a Lawyer, a Crazy Tale (in Four Cantos) ;
analytical of the Kentish Story of Brookland Steeple. London,
1786, Svo. 80 pp. — This poem is indeed — " a crazy tale."

Religio Clerici, a Chui'chman's Epistle. — The Second Edition,

editor's pheface. 307

corrected. London, JoLn Murray, Albemarle Street, 1818. —
On the title-pao;e of the Museum copy is written with pencil,
" by the Revd. E. Smedley." The \fDrk is a poem in reply to
the question, " Why are you a Church of England Christian ? "
35 pp.

A Churchman s Second Epistle. By the Author of Eeligio
Clerici. With Notes and Illustrations. London, 1819, 85 pp. —
A curious work, in which there seems to be some good strokes
of satire amongst the bigotry. W. H. B. — " In the latter part,"
the author says, "he has thought it his duty to express firmly
though he hopes not uncharitably, his opinion of the perils to
which the Established Church is exposed by the rapid progress
of modern Puritanism." A characteristick specimen of this
gentleman's religion, as well as of his charity, is afibrded by the
concluding lines of his poem, where he desires to have it recorded
in his epitaph, that

" He loved established modes of serving God,
Preached from a pulpit rather than a tub,
And gave no guinea to a Bible Club ! "

Beligio Christiani ; a Churchman's Answer to Heligio Clerici,
1818, 8vo.

Beligio Mi litis ; or Christianity for the Camp. — Loud. 1827,
18mo. pp. 151.

The Beligion of a Church of England-Man, 12mo. T. B. — ■
This brief notice was furnished, I believe from memory, bj
Mr. Hodd, of Newport-Street, and was without date.

s.w.

Norwich, Oct. 30, 1829.

x2

THE ANNOTATOEi TO THE READER.

A. GrELLius {Noct. Attic. 1. XX. cap. ult.) notes some
books that had strange titles ; Pliny {Prcefat. Nat. Hist.)
speaking of some such, could not pass them over without a
jeer ; so strange (saith he) are the titles of some books, JJt
multos ad vadimonium deferendum compellant. And Seneca
saith, some such there are, Qui patri ohstetricem parhirienti
JilicB accersenti moram injicere possmt. Of the same fate
this present tract Religio Medici hath partaken : exception
by some hath been taken to it in respect of its iuscription,
which, say they, seems to imply, that physicians have a
religion by themselves, which is more than theology doth
warrant : but it is their inference, and not the title that is
to blame ; for no more is meant by that, or endeavoured to
be proved in the book, than that (contrary to the opinion
of the unlearned) physicians have religion as well as other
men.

For the work itself, the present age hath produced none
that hath had better reception amongst the learned ; it hath
been received and fostered by almost all, there having been
but one that I know of (to verify that books have their fate
from the capacity of the reader) that hath had the face to
appear against it ; that is Mr. Alexander Eosse ;- but he is
dead, and it is uncomely to skirmish with his shadow. It
shall be sufficient to remember to the reader, that the noble
and most learned knight. Sir Kenelm Digby, has delivered
his opinion of it in another sort, wlio though in some things
he differ from the author's sense, yet hath he most candidly
and ingenuously allowed it to be a " very learned and

' Though a selection only of Mr. Keek's notes has heen given in the
present edition, yet it has been thought right to preserve his preface,
which has been referred to in the course of the foregoing introductory '
observations. — Ud.

' In liis Medicus Medicatus.

THE ANNOTATOE TO THE EEADEE. 309

excellent piece ;" aud I think no scliolar will say there can
be an approbation more authentick. Since tlie time he
published his observations upon it, one Mr. Jo. Merry-
weather, a Master of Arts of the University of Cambridge,
hath deemed it worthy to be put into the universal language,
which about the year 1644 he performed ; and that hath
carried the author's name not only into the Low Countries
and France (in both which places the book in Latin hath
since been printed), but into Italy and Grermany, and in
Germany it hath since fallen into the hands of a gentleman
of that nation^ (of his name he hath given us no more than
L. N. M. E. N.) who hath written learned Annotations
upon it in Latin, which were printed together with the book,
at Strasbourg, 1652. , And, for the general good opinion
the world had entertained both of the work and author, this
stranger tells you :"* " Inter alios auctores incidi in libruni
cui titulus Religio Medici, jam ante mihi innotuerat lec-
tionem istius libri midtos prseclaros viros delectasse, imo
occupasse. Non ignorabam librum in Anglia, Gallia, Italia,
Bolgio, Germauia, cupidissime legi ; constabat mihi eum non
solum in Anglia, Batavia, sed et Parisiis cum prEefatii)ne, in
qua auctor magnis laudibus fertur, esse typis mandatum.
Compertum mihi erat multos magnos atque eruditos viros
censere auctorem (quantum ex hoc scripto perspici potest)
sanctitate vit«B ac pietate elucere, &c." But for the worth
of the book it is so well known to every Englishman that is
fit to read it, that this attestation of a foreigner may seem
superfluous.

The German, to do him right, hath in his annotations
given a fail' specimen of his learning, showing his skill in the
languages, as well ancient as modern ; as also his acquaint-
ance with all manner of authors, both sacred and profane,
out of which he hath amassed a world of quotations : but
yet, not to mention that he hath not observed some errors of
the press, and one or two main ones of the Latin translation,
whereby the author is much injured ; it cannot be denied
but he hath passed over many hard places untouched, that
might deserve a note; that he hath made annotations on

^ That he was a German appears by his notes, page 35, where ho
tiseth these words, Dulcissima nostra Germania, dx,
* In Prcefat. Annotat.

310 THE A^*NOTATOE TO THE EEADEB,

some, where no need was ; in tlie explication of others hath
gone besides the true sense.

And were he free from aU these, yet one great fault there
is he may be justly charged with, that is, that he cannot
manum de tabula even in matters the most obvious : vvhich
is an affectation ill-becoming a scholar ; witness the most
learned annotator, " Claud. Minos. Di\don. in prsefat. com-
mentar. Alciat. Emblemat. prsefix. prsestat (saith he)
brevius omnia persequi, et leviter attingere quae nemiui esse
ignota suspicari possiut, quam quasi pa^^woeli', perque locos
communes identidem expatiari."

I go not about, by finding fault with his, obliquely to com-
mend my own ; I am as far from that, as 'tis possible others
will be : all I seek by this preface, next to acquainting the
reader with the various entertainment of the book, is, that
he would be advertised, that these notes were collected ten
years since,''' long before the German's were written ; so that
I am no plagiary (as who peruseth his notes and mine will
easily perceive), and in the second place, that I made this
recueil merely for mine own entertainment, and not with
any intention to evulge it ; truth is my witness, the publica-
tion proceeds merely from the importunity of the bookseller
(my special friend), who, being acquainted with what I had
done, and about to set out anotlier edition of the book, would
not be denied these notes to attex to it ; 'tis he (not I) that
divulgeth it, and whatever the success be, he alone is con-
cerned in it: I only say for myself what my annotations
bear in the frontispiece.

Nee satis est vulgasse fidem

that is, that it was not enough to all persons (though pre-
tenders to learniug) that our physician had published his
creed, because he wanted an exposition. I say fiu'ther, that

the German's is not full ; and that ( qicicquid sum ecfo

qiiamvis infra Lucilli censuni inrfeniumq ; ) my expHca-

tions do in many things illustrate the text of my author.

24 Martii, 1654.

* Excepting two or three particulars, in which reference is mafle to
some books that came over since that time.

CORRESPONDENCE

BETWEEN DE. BROWNE AND SIE KENELM DIGBY.

A Letter sent upon the information of animadversions to come forth, upon
the imperfect and surreptitious copy of Beligio Medici, whilst this true
one was going topjress.

HoNOUEABLE SiB, — Grive jour servant, who hatli ever
honoured you, leave to take notice of a book at present in
the press, intituled (as I am informed) Animadversions upon
a Treatise lately printed under the name of " Eeligio Me-
dici;" hereof, I am advertised, you have descended to be
the author. Worthy Sir, permit your servant to affirm there
is contained therein nothing that can deserve the reason of
your contradictions, much less the candour of your animad-
versions ; and to certify the truth thereof, that book (whereof
I do acknowledge myself the author) was penned many years
past, and (what cannot escape your apprehension) with no
intention for the press, or the least desire to oblige the faith
of any man to its assertions. But what hath more especially
emboldened my pen unto you at present is, that the same
piece, contrived in my private study, and as an exercise unto
myself, rather than exercitation for any other, having past
from my hand under a broken and imperfect copy, by fre-
quent transcription it still run forward into corruption, and
after the addition of some things, omission of others, and
transposition of many, without my assent or privacy the
liberty of these times committed it unto the press ; whence
.t issued so disguised, the author without distinction could

312 COEEESPOyBElS'CE

not acknowledge it. Having thus miscarried, within a few
weeks I shall, God willing, deliver unto the press the true
and intended original (whereof in the mean time your worthy
self may command a view), otherwise whenever that copy
shall be extant, it will most clearly appear how far the text
hath been mistaken, and all observations, glosses, or exerci-
tations thereon, will in a great part impugn the printer or
transcriber, rather than the author. If, after that, you shall
esteem it worth yom* vacant hours to discourse thereon, you
shall but take that liberty which I assume myself, that is,
freely to abound in yom' sense, as I have done in my own.
HoM'ever ye shall determine, you shall sufficiently honour me
in the vouchsafe of yotu* refute, and I oblige the whole world
in the occasion of your pen.

Tour Servant,
Norwich, March 3, 1G42. T. B.

"WoETHT SlE, — Speedily upon the receipt of your letter
of the third ciu'rent, I sent to find out the printer that Mr.
Crook (who delivered me yom's) told me was printing some-
thing under my name, concerning your treatise of Eeligio
Medici, and to forbid him any further proceeding therein ;
but my servant could not meet with him ; whereupon I have
left with Mr. Crook a note to that purpose, entreating him
to deliver it to the printer. I verily believe there is some
mistake in the information given you, and that what is
printing must be from some other pen than mine ; for such
reflexions as I made upon your learned and ingenious dis-
course, are so far from meriting the press, as they can tempt
no body to a serious reading of them; they were notes
hastily set down, as I suddenly ran over your excellent
piece, which is of so weighty subjects, and so strongly
penned, as requireth much time, and sharp attention, but to
comprehend it ; whereas what I writ was the employment
but of one sitting; and there was not twenty-foiu" hours
between my receiving my Lord of Dorset's letter that occa-
sioned what I said, and the finishing my answer to him ;
and yet part of that time was taken up in procuring your
book, which he desired me to read, and give him au account

WITH DIGBT. 313

of; for till then I was so unhappy as never to have heard of
that worthy discourse. If that letter ever come to your
view, you will see the high value I set upon your great
parts : aud if it should be thought I have been something
too bold in differing from your sense, I hope I shall easily
obtain pardon, when it shall be considered, that his lordship
assigned it me as an exercitation to oppose in it, for enter-
tainment, such passages as I might judge capable thereof;
W"herein what liberty I took is to be attributed to the secu-
rity of a private letter, and to my not knowing (nor my
lord's) the person whom it concerned.

But, sir, now that I am so happy as to have that know-
ledge, I dare assiu-e you, that nothing shall ever issue from
me, but savouring of all honour, esteem, and reverence,
both to yourself, and that worthy production of yours. If
I had the vanity to give myself reputation by entering the
lists, in publick, with so eminent and learned a man as you
are, yet I know right well I am no ways able to do it ; it
would be a very unequal congress : I pretend not to learn-
ing : those slender notions I have are but disjointed pieces
I have by chance glerjied up here and tbere : to encounter
such a sinewy opposite, or make animadversions upon so
smart a piece as yours is, requireth a solid stock and exer-
cise in school learning. My superficial besprinkling will
serve only for a private letter, or a familiar discoiu-se with
lady-auditors. With longing I expect the coming abroad
of the true copy of that book, wdiose false and stolen one
hath already given me so much delight. And so, assuring
you I shall deem it a great good fortune to deserve your
favour and friendship, I kiss your hand, and rest,

Tour most humble Servant,

Kenelm Digbx.
Winchester- House,

March 20, 1642.

314 ADMONITIOlf.

" Religio Medici was more accurately published, with an admonition
prefixed ' to those who have or shall 2')eruse the observations upon a former
corrupt copy ; ' in which there is a severe censure, not upon Digby, who
was to be used with ceremony, but upon the Observator who had
usurped his name ; nor was this invective written by Dr. Bkowne,
who was supposed to be satisfied with his opponent's apology ; but by
some officious friend zealous for his honour, without his consent." — Dr.
Johnso7i's Life of Sir T. Bromie.

To such as have, or shall peruse the Observations upon a former corrupt
copy of this book.

Theee are some men that Politian speaks of, Cui qitam
recta matins, iamfuit etfacilis : and it seems the author to
the Observations upon this book would arrogate as much to
himself, for they were, by his own confession, but the con-
ceptions of one night ; a liasty birth ; and so it proves : for
what is really controllable he generally omitteth, and what
is false upon the eri'our of the copy, he doth not always take
notice of; and wherein he would contradict, he mistaketh,
or tradueeth the intention, and (besides a parenthesis some-
times upon the author) only meddleth with those points
from whence he takes an hint to deliver his prepared con-
ceptions. But the gi'oss of his book is made out by dis-
courses collateral, and digressions of his o^\ti, not at all
emergent from this discourse ; which is easily perceptible
unto the intelligent reader. Thus much I thought good to
let thee understand without the author's knowledge, who,
slighting the refute, hath inforcedly published (as a sufficient
confutation) his own book ; and in this I shall not make so
bold with him, at the observator hath done with that noble
knight, whose name he hath wrongfully prefixed, as I am
informed, to slight animadversions : but I leave him to
repentance, and thee to thy satisfaction. Farewell.

Tours, A. B.

TO THE READER.

Certainly that man were greedy of life, wlio should
desire to live when all the world were at an end ; and he
must needs be very impatient, who would repine at death in
the society of all things that suffer under it. Had not
almost every man suffered by the press, or were not the
tyranny thereof become universal, I had not wanted reason
for complaint : but in times wherein I have Kved to behold
the highest perversion of that excellent invention, the name
of his Majesty defamed, the honour of Parliament depraved,
the writings of both depravedly, anticipatively, counterfeitly,
imprinted : complaints may seem ridiculous in private per-
sons ; and men of my condition may be as incapable of
affronts, as hopeless of their reparations. And truly had
not the duty I owe unto the importunity of friends, and the
allegiance I must ever acknowledge unto truth, prevailed
with me ; the inactivity of my disposition might have made
these sufferings continual, and time, that brings other things
to light, should have satisfied me in the remedy of its
oblivion. But, because things evidently false are not only
printed, but many things of truth most falsely set forth ; in
this latter I could not but think myself engaged : for, though
we have no power to redress the former, yet in the other the
reparation being within ourselves, I have at present repre-
sented unto the world a full and intended copy of that piece,
which was most imperfectly and surreptitiously published
before.

This I confess, about seven years past, with some others
of affinity thereto, for my private exercise and satisfaction, I
liad at leisurable hours composed ; which being communi-
cated unto one, it became common unto many, and was by

316 TO TUE EEADEE.

transcription successively corrupted, until it arrived in a
most depraved copy at the press. He that shall peruse that
work, and shall take notice of sundry particulars and per-
sonal expressions therein, will easily discern the intention
was not publick : and, being a private exercise directed to
myself, what is delivered therein was rather a memorial unto
me, than an example or rule unto any other : and tlicrefore,
if there be any singularity therein correspondent unto the
private conceptions of anj^ man, it doth not advantage them ;
or if dissentaneous thereunto, it no way overthrows them.
It was penned in such a place, and with such disadvantage,
that (I protest), from the first setting of pen unto paper, I
had not the assistance of any good book, whereby to pro-
mote my invention, or relieve my memory ; and therefore
there might be many real lapses therein, which others might
take notice of, and more than I suspected myself. It was
set down many years past, and was the sense of my concep-
tions at that time, not an immutable law unto my advancing
judgment at all times ; and therefore there might be many
things therein plausible unto my passed apprehension, which
are not agreeable unto my present self. There are many
things delivered rhetorically, many expressions therein
merely tropical, and as they best illustrate m}- intention ;
and therefore also there are many things to be taken in a
soft and flexible sense, and not to be called unto the rigid
test of reason. Lastly, all that is contaiued therein is in
submission imto maturer discernments ; and, as I have
declared [I], shall ^ no further father them than the best
and [most] learned^ judgements shall authorize tliem : under
favour of which considerations, I have made its secrecy
pubhck, and committed the truth thereof to eveiy ingenuous
reader.

Thomas Browite.

' [/] shall, &c. . . . \mosi\ learned, <£-c.] Conjecturally inserted, and
therefore inclosed within brackets ; — a distinction wliich will be care-
fully observed throughout the present edition, in the (veiy few)
instances which may occur of the slightest deviation from preceding
editions. — Ed.

RELIGIO MEDICI.

Foe my religion, though there be several circumstances
that might persuade the world I have none at all, — as the
general scandal of my profession,^ — the natural course of my
studies,^ — the indifferency of my behaviour and discourse in
matters of religion (neither violently defending one, nor
with that common ardour and contention opposing another),
— yet, in despite hereof, I dare without usurpation assume
the honourable style of a Christian. Not that I merely owe
this title to the font, my education, or the clime wherein 1
was born, as being bred up either to confirm those principles
my parents instilled into my unwary understanding, or by a
general consent proceed in the religion of my country ; but
that having, in my riper years and confirmed judgment, seen
and examined all, I find myself obliged, by the principles of

' scandal of my ^jro/cssioH.] Physicians do commonly bear ill in this
behalf. It is a common speech, Ubi tre$ medici duo athei. The reasons
why those of that profession (I declare myself that I am none,
but causarum actor mediocris, to use Horace his phrase) may be thought
to deserve that censure, the author rendereth, § 19. — K.

* the natural course of my studies.~\ The vulgar lay not tne impu-
tation of atheism only upon physicians, but upon philosophers in
genei'al ; who, for that they give themselves to understand the opera-
tions of nature, calumniate tbeni, as though they rested in the second
causes, without any respect to the first. Hereupon it was, that in the
tenth age Pope Silvester the Second passed for a magician, because he
understood geometry and natural ijhilosophy. Baron. Annal. 990. And
Apuleius, long before him, laboured of the same suspicion, upon no better
ground. He was accused, and made a learned apology for himself; and
in that hath laid down what the ground is of such accusations. Apul. in
Apoloff. And it is possible that those that look upon the second causes
scattered, may rest in them, and go no farther, as my Lord Bacon, in
one of hirs Essays, observeth : but our author tells us there is a true
philosophy, from which no man becomes an atheist, § 48. -K.

318 EELIGIO MEDICI.

grace, and the law of mine own reason, to embrace no other
name but this : neither doth herein my zeal so far make me
forget the general charity I owe unto humanity, as rather to
hate than pity Turks, Infidels, and (what is worse) Jews ;
rather contenting myself to enjoy that happy style, than
maligning those who refuse so glorious a title.

Quousque patiere, bone Jesu !

Judtei te semel, ego ssepius crucifixi ;
lUi in Asia, ego in Britania,

Gallia, Germania ;
Bone Jesu, miserere mei, et Judaeorum.'

Sect. ii. — But, because the name of a Christian is become
too general to express our faith, — there being a geography
of religion'* as well as lands, and every clime not only dis-
tinguished by its laws and limits, but circumscribed by its
doctrines and rules of faith, — to be particular, I am of that
reformed new-cast religion, wherein I dislike nothing but
the name ; of the same belief our Saviom* taught, the apostles
disseminated, the fathers authorized, and the martyrs con-
firmed ; but, by the sinister ends of princes, the ambition
and avarice of prelates,^ and the fatal corruption of times
so decayed, impaired, and fallen from its native beauty, that
it required the careful and charitable hands of these times
to restore it to its primitive integrity. jS^ow, the accidental
occasion whereupon, the slender means whereby, the low
and abject condition of the person by whom, so good a work
was set on foot,^ which in our adversaries beget contempt

3 This verse is inserted from the MSS. L. & W. 2.— Ed.

* a geography of religion.] That is, of Christian religion, which
you may see described in Mr. Brerewood's inquiries. — K.

Pr^esertim in Europa inter Christianos ; vide nuper Amstelodami
editum libellum, cujus auctor Bernhardus Varenius, De Dirersitaf. Gent.
Religion. In Asia tamenet Africa magna etiam religionum diversitas est :
et id non solum inter Ethnicos,— ut sunt Chinenses ac Japonenses, —
(vide Trigaut. De Exped. Christ, apud Chin. eiBernh. Varen. inDescrip-
tione Regni Japonice,) — sed etiam inter Mahumetanos, ut addiscimus ex
Leone Africano, lib. viii. cep. 25. — Af.

^ jyrelates.] Both the surreptitious editions (of 1642), with the MSS.
W. <£• R., read, preshytors. — Ed.

^ so good a work icas set on foot.] This is graphically described by
Thuanus, in his history : but, because his words are too large for
this purpose, I shall give it you «oraewhat more briefly, according to

EELIGIO MEDICI. 319

and scorn, fill me with wonder, and are the very same
objections the insolent pagans first cast at Christ and his
disciples.

Sect. hi. — Tet I have not so shaken hands with^ those

the relation of the author of the history of the council of Trent. The
occasion was the necessity of Pope Leo the Tenth, who by his profusion
had so exhausted the treasure of the church, that he was constrained to
have recourse to the publishing of indulgences to raise monies ; some
of which he had destined to his own treasury, and other part to his
allies, and particularly to his sister he gave all the money tliat should
be raised in Saxony ; and she, that she might make the best profit of
the donation, commits it to one Aremboldus, a bishop, to appoint
treasurers for these indulgencies. Now the custom was, that, when-
soever these mdulgences were sent into Saxony, they were to be
divulged by the friars Eremites, of which order Luther then was : but
Aremboldus his agents thought with themselves that the fi-iars Eremites
were not so well acquainted with the trade that, if the business should
be left to them, they themselves should either be able to give so good
an account of their negotiation, or get so much by it, as they might do in
case the business were committed to another order. They thereupon
recommended it to (and the business was undertaken by) the Dominican
friars, who performed it so ill, that the scandal arising both from thence,
and from the ill lives of those that set them at work, stirred up Luther
to write against the abuses of these indulgencies : which was all he did
at first ; but then, not long after, being provoked by some sermons and
small discourses that had been published against what he had written,
he rips up the business from the beginning, and publishes xcv theses
against it at Wittenburg. Against these, Tekel, a Dominican, writes ;
then Luther adds an explication to his. Eckius and Prierius, Domini-
cans, thereupon take up the controversy against him : and now Luther
begins to be hot ; and because his adversaries could not found the matter
of indulgences upon other foundations than the Pope's power and in-
fallibility, that begets a disputation betwixt them concerning the Pope's
power, which Luther insists upon as inferior to that of a general council ;
and so by degrees became on to oppose the popish doctrines of i-emission
of sins, penances, and purgatoi-y ; and by reason of Cardinal Cajetan's
imprudent management of the conference he had with him, it came to
pass that he rejected the whole body of popisli doctrine. So that by
this we may see what was the accidental occasion wherein, the slender
means whereby, and the abject condition of the person by whom, the
work of reformation of religion was set on foot. — K.

' shaken hands with . ... as to stand in diameter and .'word's point
with them.] These words are i-endered by Mr. Merryweather, mernet

adjungo ita ut iisdem ex diametro repugnent: wherein he

hath too much played the scholar, and showed himself to be more
skilful in foreign and ancient customs than in the vernacular practice
and usage of the language of his own country : for although amongst
the Latins, protension of tlia hand was a symbol and sign of peace and

320 EELIGIO MEDICI.

desperate resolutions who had rather venture at large theif
decayed bottom, than bring her in to be new-trimmed in
the dock, — -who had rather promiscuously retain all, than
abridge any, and obstinately be what they are, than what
they have been, — as to stand in diameter and sword's point
with them/ We have reformed from the